Midgar High School
by GuitarWind45
Summary: Cloud is a new student at Midgar High. Will he become the school's rockstar? Will he find the love of his life? Or will he screw up and have his head in the toilet? Welcome to modern high school! Rated: T for Language and Sexual Teenage Humor!
1. Chapter I: Mr Hojo's Geometry Class

**Disclaimer: So you've heard it all before... Blah blah blah. I don't own anything from Final Fantasy VII or Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII. Or Dirge of Cerberus and it's sequel. Or Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. All of that comes from Sqaresoft and Square Enix, so I don't own crap!**

Here is my third fanfic you guys! Please read my other ones, I would love it! So here is "Midgar High School"!

"Midgar High School"

Tap... Tap... Tap...

"Shut up Reno!" Tifa said turning around to the redhead behind her.

"Tifa! Reno!" Tifa turned around to see Mr. Hojo looking at them from the front of the class, "Would you care to explain to the class what it is you guys are talking about?"

"No," Tifa said slouching down with her cheeks turning red.

"Well it seems pretty interesting enough to interrupt my lesson," He shook his head at Tifa, "This is the third time this week I had to stop you two from interrupting the class."

"Sorry..." Tifa said ignoring the chuckles behind her from Reno.

Mr. Hojo sighed then turned back to the board.

Geometry is boring, Tifa thought trying to concentrate. Mr. Hojo's writing was crap too, she could barely read what was on the board.

She sighed then looked over to the left of her and saw Aerith, her bestfriend. She was texting on her phone again. Probably to her boyfriend Zack. Tifa remembered having a crush on him when she went to Nibelheim High, and he came over for a football game.

Tifa looked over at Aerith with jealousy, she always got the hot boys.

"Ms. Gainsborough," Mr. Hojo said smiling and shaking his head, "are you texting?"

Aerith's face grew red as she tried to put her phone away, but it was no use.

"Y-yes..." She said stuttering. Tifa smiled trying not to laugh at her embarrassment.

"Why am I not surprised?" Mr. Hojo said grinning, "I guess that's another referral to Principal Lazard."

Aerith's eyes widened in shock. Tifa rolled her eyes, shouldn't she be used to getting detentions by now?

"No!" Aerith pleaded, "Not another one!"

Mr. Hojo started laughing and started going into deep thought pacing the room and scratching his chin.

"Okay," Mr. Hojo said with a creepy smile, "Instead of a referral, how about you come up to the front of the class and read off your text messages."

Math class just got interesting as everyone in the class turned their heads to Aerith excited. Aerith's face turned apple red as she slowly stood up from her desk. Tifa tried her best not to laugh at her bestfriend, she did deserve it this time.

"This is AWKWARD!" Reno said laughing. Aerith looked at him with a dirty look then continued on slowly.

"Come on," Hojo said to her as if she was a a little puppy, "Don't be scared."

Aerith at the front of the classroom went through her phone then looked at the class. She sighed then looked at her phone.

"'I miss u baby'," She said reading off one message on her phone, "'I cant wait 2 make out w/ u during passing period :)'."

The class burst out laughing, then Aerith's face started to turn more red. Soon Tifa started feeling bad for her, what if it were her up there reading those messages.

"Go on," Hojo said with his creepy smile.

Aerith sighed then looked at her phone.

"Then... I said 'Im getting bored of the hall wayz :P I can't wait till u get 2 come 2 my house so we can-"

"Okay that's enough," Mr. Hojo said shooing Aerith back to her desk knowing what was about to come up if he didn't stop her.

Tifa watched as Aerith sat in her desk desperately trying to ignore any of the classmates making fun of her.

Mr. Hojo continued on with his lesson.

"Now that that's over-"

RING! RING! RING!

The class erupted in triumph as the period was over.

Tifa went over to Aerith as she exited the class quickly to avoid any dirty remarks from the other students.

"Aerith wait!" Tifa called for her friend.

Aerith turned around to see her black-haired friend, then made a light but quick smile as it soon faded.

"Are you okay?" Tifa asked her friend concerned.

Aerith shrugged, then bit her lip.

"I don't know," She said, "I'm just afraid people will think I'm a slut."

Tifa put her arm around her friend in comfort.

"People won't think you're a slut," She said trying to cheer Aerith up, "Just be careful of what your texting in class next time."

Aerith smiled at Tifa

"Thanks Tifa," she said.

"So anyway," Tifa began, "So what are you and Zack gonna do when he comes to your house?

Aerith opened her mouth.

"Oh my God!" She said pushing her friend playfully, "Shut up Tifa!"

"Hey tell me!" Tifa pushed her back.


	2. Chapter II: Nibelheim High Sucks!

**Chapter II: Nibelheim High Sucks!**

"Okay Mr. Strife, here is your schedule," Principal Lazard said to the new student giving him his class schedule.

"Thank you sir," The blonde-haired boy said shaking the Principal's hand, "I'm looking very forward to second semester at this school."

"Well I am very happy that you decided to come here," Lazard said to Cloud.

Cloud exited the office and went to find some familiar faces, but he saw none. He looked at his schedule.

Period 1: Mr. Wallace – P.E. 9

Period 2: Mr. Rhapsodos – Honors Language Arts

Period 3: Mr. Hojo – Geometry

Period 4: Mrs. Gainsborough – Chamber Choir

Period 5: Mr. Hewley– Honors Biology

Period 6: Mr. Tseng – Spanish 1

There are a lot of male teachers at this school Cloud thought. He took a deep breath as the bell rang.

He went over to the gym to find a big dark skinned man with a clipboard reading it as he was taking roll. I put my bag down with the rest of the other bags then sat down on the bleachers with the rest of the class.

"Alex... Aerith... Sephiroth..." Mr. Wallace said reading off the names and marking down the people that didn't say 'here', "Tifa... Joey... Zack... Mr. Fair! You can kiss Ms. Gainsborough later, but not in my class!"

I turned around to see a spiky black haired guy with his arm around a brunette girl laughing. Mr. Wallace sighed then looked back at his clipboard to continue taking roll.

"Angelica...Elena... Lauren... Jonathan...Yuffie ...Cloud," I raised my hand and said 'here' when he called my name. Mr. Wallace gave off a 'huh' then raised an eyebrow, "It says here you're from Nibeheim High."

The other students gave off 'boo''s. Nobody here likes Nibelheim, Cloud guessed.

"Well we're all glad you left that place and decided to join the Midgar SOLDIERS," Mr. Wallace said laughing. Then he turned his attention to the rest of the class, and continued to take roll.

Cloud sighed, then he felt someone tap his shoulder, he turned around to see a guy in a hat which seemed to hide his face a little.

"Hey," he said, "I'm Kunsel."

"Cloud," I said shaking Kunsel's hand.

"Can I see your schedule?" He asked pointing to the piece of folded paper in my hand.

Cloud handed handed the folded paper to him and he looked at it. He laughed.

"Mr. Hojo sucks ass man!" He said pointing to my third period class, "good luck in his class, I switched out recently. I think you should do the same."

Cloud nodded.

"Mr. Hewley is a good teacher," He continued, "I have him. And Mrs. Gainsborough's daughter is a slut. I heard she got caught texting her boyfriend in third period, and she had to read out her texts."

Cloud chuckled, that would be embarrassing. Then Kunsel handed him back the schedule.

"I'll be seeing you fifth period then."

Cloud immediately turned his attention away from Kunsel to a black haired girl. She was gorgeous. He noticed her breasts the most. He was instantly infatuated. He watched her as she moved along the aisles of the bleachers. Her hair moving freely. And her smile was amazing.

"Who are you looking at?" Kunsel asked interrupting Cloud's thoughts.

"Who's that girl over there?" Cloud asked pointing to the girl that he was looking at.

"That's Tifa dude," He said looking back at Cloud as if he was crazy, "She's like crazy hot!"

"Yeah, you got that right," Cloud agreed.

"Well good luck with her man," Kunsel said laughing.

RING! RING! RING!

"Okay class!" Mr. Wallace said trying to get the class' attention before they left, "We change out tomorrow, so bring your clothes!"

That reminded Cloud to buy P.E. Clothes. Cloud grabbed his backpack then went to find Mr. Rhapsodos' class. Though he didn't know where to go.

He went up to a spiky black haired guy he saw earlier in his class then asked him where the class was, and he directed him. He thanked the guy then went in the direction. Though he soon realized he had been lied to when Cloud ended up back at the gym.

Cloud cursed then wandered around in hope to find the room. Soon one of the supervisors found him lost then directed him to the right direction.

When he entered the room he saw a red haired man with a really big class.

"When the war of the beasts brings about the world's end..." Mr. Rhapsodos read from a book, then looked up at Cloud when he walked in.

"Welcome, you must be Cloud Strife," Mr. Rhapsodos said standing up to shake Cloud's hand, "I'm Mr. Rhapsodos, but my students call me Genesis."

Cloud nodded his head and looked at the really big class with wide eyes. There were probably about 30 students. Nibelheim never had classes this big.

"Your seat will be by Sephiroth," He said pointing somewhere in the back, "Sephiroth, raise your hand so Cloud knows where to sit."

Cloud saw a long hand go up so he went to walk over to it. On the way he saw a few girls look at him as if he was cute.

"Hey, Cloud," He heard one of the girls say in a flirty voice, "I'm Cissnei."

Cloud looked at her and saw her wink at him. She was a cute redhead he thought.

As he approached the raised hand in somewhat the back of the room, he noticed it was a very tall guy who looked to be a senior. He had long silver hair. Cloud sat in the desk to the left of him.

"Okay Cloud," Genesis said at the front of the room, "right now, we're reading the book of LOVELESS, there's a textbook under your desk, we just started, so it shouldn't take long for you to catch up."

Cloud nodded then reached under his desk to find a large textbook. He looked over at Sephiroth's book to see what page the class was on and he turned to it. On the page, there were five acts. Each one consisting of a small poem.

"When the war of the beasts brings about the world's end..." Cloud looked at his book to see the first line then followed along to his teacher as he read it aloud, "The goddess descends from the sky... Wings of light and dark spread afar... She guides us to bliss, her gift everlasting."

Genesis' voice was so elegant and so into the story, that Cloud knew that this was a very good teacher.

"Now that is the end of Act I," Genesis said finished, "Now I want all of you to get out a piece of paper and answer this question on the board."

On the board he saw the question 'What do you think is the gift of the goddess?'

"Remember, there is no wrong answer," He said reminding the class.

Cloud got out his notebook and a pencil and started writing down his answer. He already knew what he was gonna write.

_I think the gift of the goddess is life. Life is the greatest gift that anyone can have. How you can experience love and hate, and everything in between. Her gift to us is to escape the war of the beasts when she guides us to bliss. I think that line means that the goddess is leading us to peace, and life itself._

Cloud remembered to write his name, period, and date at the top of the page before passing it up to the person in front of him. When Genesis collected the papers, he read them over briefly, but then stopped at one of them, and nodded his head in amusement.

"Very nice Cloud," He said looking straight at the spiky blonde haired student, "Your former teachers didn't lie when they told me you're a creative student."

Cloud smiled, and the rest of the class applauded him.

During the rest of the period, Genesis talked about a future book report project, but then Cloud's attention was interrupted when the person in front of him passed a note to him. It said 'Cloud' on it with a heart representing the 'o'.

Cloud raised an eyebrow then unfolded the note.

'You're cute!' It said in really big letters with a bunch of red and pink hearts around it, 'Call me!'

Then at the bottom of the note it said 'Cissnei', then a phone number. Cloud's cheeks turned red, then looked in front of him to see the redhead winking at him from her desk.

Cloud looked away embarrassed. She was weird. He turned his head back at the note, but it was gone. He then found out that Genesis was standing next to him reading the note then Genesis started laughing.

"Cissnei," He said laughing, "Let's not welcome our new student with creepy love notes please."

Cissnei's cheeks turned red as everyone was laughing at her and Cloud. Genesis put the note back on Cloud's desk, then went back to the front of the room laughing along with the rest of the students.

RING! RING! RING!

To find Mr. Hojo's class, Cloud went up to Genesis to ask him where to go instead of asking one of the students. Cloud learned his lesson from last passing period.

Genesis gave him directions and Cloud got there before the bell rang. His teacher was a chubby looking guy with a white beard. He looked better suited as a chemistry teacher, Cloud thought. Cloud waited at the front of the room to have his teacher give him his seat.

"Ms. Gainsborough," Mr. Hojo said to one of his students, "Sit up front from now on so I can have a good eye on you."

Cloud saw a pretty brunette girl emerge from her seat and move to an empty desk at the front of the class. The students laughed at Aerith remembering yesterday's event. Cloud recognized her from first period. And he guessed this was the 'slut' that Kunsel was talking about.

Mr. Hojo finally saw Cloud and greeted him.

"So you're Cloud Strife," The old man said shaking Cloud's hand, "We'll have you sit in Aerith's old spot next to Tifa over there."

Mr. Hojo pointed to the empty desk. Cloud recognized the name 'Tifa' immediately and saw the beautiful girl sitting in the seat that he was soon to sit next to.


	3. Chapter III: IDK

**Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VII and its compilations are my favorite games. And One-Winged Angel is my favorite theme song! But too bad I'm not the actual owner of the game and song. So to be very clear I don't own s***!**

Sorry for updating so slow. I've been busy writing songs with my band, and I actually JUST finished Crisis Core haha the ending was sad and I ALMOST cried. I also noticed some people favoriting this story, which is GREAT, but there are not many reviews. If you know me, I LOVE reviews, and I would encourage all my readers to review some chapters. But to those who already reviewed, thanks! :)

**Chapter III: IDK**

Cloud walked up nervously to his seat. He tried to avoid staring at the beautiful girl that he was about to sit next to. He sat in his desk, then looked over at Tifa who was getting something out of her backpack. Cloud looked at the board then saw a geometric figure. It was an isosceles right triangle with one of the angles measuring 45 degrees.

"Here is our problem of the day class," Mr. Hojo said pointing to the board, "Find the missing angles in the figure. Remember you can always ask your neighbors for help, but no talking."

Cloud took out his notebook, then wrote the problem on the paper. Cloud knew the answer without having to think, he had already learned this back at Nibelheim. He wrote down the missing measurements, 45 and 90 degrees. When he was finished writing down his answer, he took a glance at Tifa who was trying to look at his paper. She saw him look at her then she looked back at her paper with her face red.

"Need help?" Cloud asked trying to break some ice with the girl. She looked back at him and giggled. It make Cloud's heart stop.

"Yes please," She said smiling at him.

"Okay," He said showing her his paper, "you know how a right triangle always has a right angle? Well a right angle is always-"

"90 degrees," She interrupted, "Then you add those two angles then take it away from 180..."

"Then there's your answer," He finished. Tifa sighed with a smile then looked at Cloud.

"Thanks," She said. Then Cloud nodded at her. She looked at her paper then back at Cloud, her face turned red so she tried to hide it. Cloud noticed the awkwardness then he looked back at his paper. He felt his face turn red as well. Does she like him? He thought.

"So what's your name?" She asked trying to break the ice. She knew his name, but she didn't want to sound like a stalker.

"Cloud," He said turning his head in her direction.

"I'm Tifa," Cloud already knew, but he nodded, "I like your name."

Cloud raised an eyebrow.

"Well that's a surprise," He said looking away, "nobody really finds the name of the white things in the sky as a cool name."

"Well..." She hesitated growing red again and smiling awkwardly, "I think it's a nice name. I mean I love to look at the clouds once in a while. Though you never really see them here in Midgar, but when I lived in Nibelheim, I used to see them a lot.

"Really," Cloud said recognizing the name of his hometown, "I used to live in Nibelheim before I moved here."

"Oh my gosh that's cool," Tifa smiled at him with big beautiful eyes, which made Cloud's heart stop again.

"Okay class," Mr. Hojo said which caused the class' talking to fade, "Time to pick the person who will do this problem on the board... Hmmm... how about Reno?"

The class erupted in chuckles as the redhead was picked.

"No, I think I'm good Mr. H," Reno refused slouching back in his chair.

"Reno! Come up here and do the problem on the board please," Mr. Hojo demanded.

"Fine fine, I'll do the stupid problem," He mumbled as he finally got out of his chair and took a dry erase marker to the white board.

He was up there for a couple seconds writing something on the board, but his body was covering it, then when he stepped aside, there was a big 'IDK' written in big letters. The class erupted in laughter and so did Mr. Hojo.

"Care to explain what that says?" Mr. Hojo asked when he laughter died down.

"Well right here it says 'EYE DEE KAY'" the redhead pointed out, "Which stands for 'I don't know'."

"Okay okay," Mr. Hojo said chuckling, "By putting 'EYE DEE KEY', how much knowledge does that tell me you have?"

Reno chuckled then shrugged.

"Probably more than you, since you don't know what 'IDK' means," He pointed out which frustrated the teacher.

"Oooooohhhhh..." The class erupted in gasps and 'you just got told' reactions. Reno just smirked as he knew he was getting yet another punishment.

"Reno," Mr. Hojo said calmly, "Go back to your seat, and stay after class."

Reno chuckled and went back to his desk behind Tifa. Cloud hated class disruptions, he didn't wanna sound like a nerd or whatever, but that was how he felt.

The rest of the period went by pretty fast, though geometry was always boring to him, he would look at Tifa during the period to admire her beautiful features. Whenever he thought that she was gonna look at him, he looked away, and when she did look at him, he would simply look down at his paper to act like he's following the lesson.

With five minutes left of the period, Mr. Hojo let the class talk and hangout.

"Can I see your schedule Cloud?" Tifa asked hoping to find some other similar classes with him. Cloud handed her his schedule and she smiled at it.

"I didn't know you were in my P.E. Class," she said surprised looking at his schedule, "I can't believe it, but I have every class with you except for your foreign language."

Cloud was suddenly thrilled. He almost the whole day with this girl than he can possibly imagine. He just wondered why he hadn't seen her second period. Then he noticed something about the classes together.

"Hey," He said pointing to his fourth period 'Chamber Choir', "I didn't know you sing."

"It's my favorite thing to do," She said smiling, but then it disappeared quickly, "But I wish I was a lot better."

"I'm sure you're a great singer," Cloud said trying to complement her in some way.

"You haven't even heard me sing," she said giggling.

"So?" Cloud said smiling, "You've got to be a good singer when you have those big-"

Cloud stopped. He was lucky he stopped right before he said the word that all guys turn their heads to.

"What?" She said confused. Surely he was talking about her boobs, she knew it, but she didn't care.

"Nothing," Cloud said blushing, "Well I hope I get to hear you sing next period."

Tifa smiled. Could Cloud really be the one that she was looking for?

"_How come you always have boyfriends, Aerith?" Tifa asked in a jealous tone._

"_Maybe God just made me have lots of boyfriends," she replied, "Don't worry Tifa, God will find your perfect match, just be patient, and don't think about it too much. Your knight in shining armor will come when you least expect it. And besides, look at those boobs! Lots of guys will be chasing after you in no time!"_

"_But I don't want guys who are in it for my breasts."_

"_Tifa Tifa Tifa..." Aerith shook her head, "Be grateful you were the one born with larger penis raisers instead of me."_

"_Aerith, I'm not the type of girl that gets f***ed by five guys every month."_

"_Shut up! Hahaha. But like I said, just be patient, he'll come around."_

Could Cloud be the guy? Tifa barely met him, but she still wants to interact with him more. He was really cute and kinda muscular for his size. What kind of girls will be after him? Definitely Cissnei, she already gave him a love note during second period.

RING! RING! RING!

"Hey Tifa," Cloud said trying to get to her before she could leave the room, "Can you show me where the choir room is?"

"Yeah of course," She said smiling, then the two walked to fourth period together. They were at least an inch close to each other.


	4. Chapter IV: I Can Play a Mean Guitar

**Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VII or its compilations, they belong to Squaresoft and Square Enix . I also don't own One-Winged Angel, that song belongs to Nobuo Uematsu. And I don't own Youtube. AND, I don't own Bullet for My Valentine, My Chemical Romance, or Escape the Fate or their songs :P But I wish I did, because their songs are awesome! Enjoy :D**

**Chapter IV: I Can Play a Mean Guitar**

"So here's the choir room," Tifa said as she and Cloud walked in the room. It was a really big room with a baby grand piano at the front. There were chairs on carpeted risers with no desks and there were few people in the room.

"Hi," Cloud looked over at who said that and a girl with short black hair walked up to him and Tifa, "What's your name?"

She gave him a friendly smile and held out her hand. Cloud shook it and introduced himself.

"Oh, so you're that new boy from Nibelheim," She said smiling, "I'm Yuffie, I have you first period."

Then a brunette lady walked up to Cloud and smiled at him.

"You must be Cloud," She said, "Come inside the audition room, I want to see where I can place you before the period starts."

Cloud nodded then followed the teacher into a small room with a piano in it, which was slightly smaller than the baby grand that was in the regular room.

Tifa watched him go. He's pretty sexy, she thought to herself. Yuffie leaned in to whisper in Tifa's ear.

"When did you meet him?" She asked, "He's totally hot."

"I just met him last period," Tifa replied trying not to show that she liked him. She always hated it when her friends would find out about her liking someone because they would always try to hook her up with the guy. It never worked.

"He looks like he could be a second tenor," Yuffie pointed out, "His voice seems like it's right in the middle between baritone and lead. Oh and Tifs, I call dibs on him!"

"What? !" Tifa said surprised, "but, but..."

She tried hard not to reveal her crush on him, but right now she didn't care. It may sound stupid, but when you call dibs, you call dibs, and she can't let that happen.

"What?" Yuffie said to Tifa, "Why? Do you like him?"

Tifa's face turned red.

"Just don't tell anyone please," Tifa pleaded, "and don't try to hook me up."

"Oh trust me girl," Yuffie said giggling, "I want him too, so don't be surprised if I start flirting with him."

Tifa's mouth hit the ground. 'Oh it's on girl!' she thought to herself.

RING! RING! RING!

Everyone started to file in the room as the two minute bell rang. Then Cloud came out of the audition room.

"So what are you?" Tifa asked him when he walked up to them.

"She said I'm a tenor," he said kinda disappointed, "she said that my voice sounds weak, but the exercises will help me develop a better voice."

"Oh trust me," Yuffie said winking at the boy, "they will."

Soon, after a little small talk the bell rang for the period to start, and everyone got to their places quickly. Cloud waited at the front of the class for Mrs. Gainsborough to assign him to his seat. She came out of the office then put him in a seat next to two guys. One of them was the black haired guy that had tricked him during passing period, and the other one was a big guy that looked like he was gonna beat Cloud up.

"We have a new student here," Mrs. Gainsborough said to the class, "He came in from Nibelheim, and his name is Cloud."

Cloud expected everyone to boo him down from being in a rival school, but surprisingly, everyone got up from their seat and came up to Cloud to introduce themselves. He remembered the first guy that shook his hand and it was the smaller guy next to him. His name was Zack. The bigger guy that he sat by was Jesus.

"Hi Cloud," He shook Tifa's hand, "I'm Tifa."

She said it in a weird way which made Cloud laugh. He remembered meeting Aerith Gainsborough, Yuffie, Vincent, and Squall.

When he had met everyone, and they all sat back down in their seats. He gave a surprising look at the teacher. This class was definitely disciplined.

The first few minutes of class was vocal warmups. He learned to use his diaphragm for supporting his voice, and to use forward tone to project the voice and to shape it. Yuffie was right, this all helped him, and it's most likely gonna help develop his voice.

After doing vocal warmups, the teacher passed out new music. When Cloud got a copy, it said 'One-Winged Angel. Interpreted by Miles Parker, original music by Nobuo Uematsu'.

When the music has been passed out, the teacher spoke and said,

"This song is sung in Latin, and instead of using orchestra, we will use out voices."

She played the song on a CD and the class listened to it while looking down at the lyrics.

'Noli manere, manare in memoria Noli manere, manare in memoria

Sephiroth!'

The class jumped astonished from their seats when they heard 'Sephiroth' as the word just attacked them.

'Sephiroth!'

After the song was finished. The class looked at their music and they erupted in compliments for the song.

"That song was sick!" "We're so kicking Gongaga's butt at the competition!" "That was tight!"

Cloud had to admit that the song was great, but it was gonna be a challenge for him since the tenor part was very difficult.

When class was over, Tifa decided to have Cloud sit at the same lunch table with her and her friends. The two sat at a table outside the cafeteria with Aerith, Zack, and a couple other people that Cloud doesn't know.

"Hey!" Zack said as he stood up to shake Cloud's hand, "What's up? ! Hey wait, haven't I seen you already?"

"Um, yeah," Cloud said awkwardly shaking the black-haired guy's hand, "you met me last period, and you directed me to the wrong class after first period."

Zack folded his arms then thought hard. Soon he started laughing and he put his hand on Cloud's shoulder.

"Hey sorry about that bro," He said still laughing lightly, "Well that's what you get for being in Nibelheim."

Cloud sighed. Did the people here really hate Nibelheim High that much? He sat down next to Tifa who was sitting next to Aerith.

"Hey Sephy," Zack said shoving a white haired student playfully. Cloud recognized him from his second period, "This is my new buddy Cloud."

Sephiroth looked at Cloud with a black expression.

"We've met before," He said to Zack who put his hands on his hips. He finally sat down.

Cloud took a bite of his cheeseburger, he chewed it in disgust then forced it down his throat.

"School food sucks doesn't it?" Aerith said to his as she noticed his disgust, "It's best to bring your own food."

Cloud shrugged then drank his water bottle. He began to wonder why people think she's a slut. First of all she did not look like one at all. She wears a pink dress. Most girls that Cloud know as sluts are usually the ones that wear one-inch shorts and tank tops revealing their lower stomach area, but he didn't wanna start with the stereotypes.

Zack took out his vibrating phone then flipped it open and started typing angrily. When he was done he snapped the phone shut and shoved it in his pocket.

"What's wrong?" Aerith asked him.

"Josh decided to quit the band," He told her trying to control his anger, "Agh! Where are we gonna find a lead guitarist as good as him?"

Cloud immediately turned his attention to Zack. Cloud had been playing guitar for a few years now. He even wrote songs, and he was desperately trying to find a band. He had been tired of making his own backing tracks when he would post a cover or something on Youtube.

"You can play guitar really well too though," Aerith told her boyfriend trying to comfort him.

"It won't be the same," He said putting his head in his hands, "We need 2 guitarists. Plus I can't do all those crazy solos AND sing at the same time."

Aerith hugged Zack around his shoulders in hope to make him feel better. Zack just sighed.

"I can probably help you with your problem," Cloud said which grabbed the attention on the black haired boy, "I can play a mean guitar."

Cloud tried not to sound dumb when he said that, but what was he supposed to say? Zack's expression didn't change.

"Thanks for your help bro," He said, "but we have a gig in three days, and a record producer is gonna be there. I don't know if you'll be able to learn all our songs by then."

"How many songs have you guys written?" Cloud asked curiously. He knew he could learn anything in three days, but it depends on how many he hand to learn, and how difficult.

"We wrote three songs for the gig, and four cover songs." Zack replied as his expression changed to hopeful.

"What are the cover songs?" Cloud asked smirking. Zack thought for a moment then replied.

"Waking the Demon by Bullet for My Valentine, Hearts Burst Into Fire by them as well, Welcome to the Black Parade by My Chemical Romance, and This War Is Ours by Escape the Fate."

Cloud smirked.

"You guys like metal huh? I know the lead part to all those songs except This War Is Ours," When those words escaped Cloud's mouth, Zack got excited.

"Well welcome to the band!" Zack said as he and Cloud pounded fists, "We have practice tomorrow and the next day. Can you make it?"

"I can make it tomorrow, but not Thursday."

"Okay, good enough!" Zack soon got excited and so did Aerith.

Cloud smiled, he could not wait. He looked at Tifa who was looking at him.

"'I can play a mean guitar'" She mimicked then laughed, "You should play me something sometime, maybe sing to me?"

Cloud nodded, the lunch period went by fast till the bell rang for 5th period. He had a feeling that his freshman year was gonna be awesome.

**Okay Okay! I know what you all are thinking! "They're freshmen? !". And I apologize for not mentioning that earlier. Sorry about the extremely late update guys, but what happened to the reviews? ! I honestly don't give a crap about what you guys say, heck, you guys can even troll me if you want. But I am a review powered writer, and I wanna hear what you guys have to say, because I know I'm not the best writer. I'm only 14, turning 15 in august :P. So yeah, I'd like to learn from you people. But to the people who reviewed so far, THANK YOU! You guys are AWESOME! Once I get more reviews, I will update VERY quick! :)**


	5. Chapter V: Jealousy Ruins Everything

I'd like to thank everyone for reviewing the last chapter. Because of you guys, I made this a quick update!

**Disclaimer: Nothing has changed. I don't own anything Final Fantasy related.**

**Chapter V: Jealously Ruins Everything**

_**Thursday, February 8**_

"I think Cloud actually likes me," Tifa said to Aerith before fourth period.

"Yeah, no shit," Aerith said with a 'you finally figured it out' look.

"That doesn't mean I don't have a shot at him," Tifa looked over to see Yuffie walk in the class.

"Ooh a competition huh?" Aerith said excitedly then looked over Tifa's shoulder, "Here comes the man of the hour."

Tifa saw Cloud walk in at the corner of her eye. She opened her mouth to say something, but Yuffie interrupted her.

"Hey Cloud," Yuffie said going up to Cloud, "Is that a new shirt?"

"You better take charge, Tifs," Aerith teased as she hugged Zack when he walked in, "Yuffie is tough competition."

"Yeah, actually," Cloud said answering Yuffie's question as he put his backpack down by his seat, "How'd you know."

Yuffie looked at his T shirt, it was the new Bullet for My Valentine shirt with the two guns and the skull.

"That shirt came out yesterday at Hot Topic," Yuffie said, "I was gonna get it, but they sold out."

"I didn't know you were in to metal," Cloud pointed out interested.

"Well I've been to a few of their concerts," Yuffie said with a bragging look. Cloud opened his mouth to respond, but was interrupted.

"Hey Cloud," Tifa said coming up to the boy. She opened out her arms for a hug. He hugged her.

"Hey what about me?" Yuffie asked with her arms wide open. Cloud hugged her and laughed, "Oh my God, you give like the best hugs ever!"

"Uhh," Cloud noticed the awkwardness and his face turned red, "Thanks I guess."

"Hey Yuffie," Vincent said as he entered the room. He gave her a hug then looked at Cloud's shirt.

"BFMV huh?" He said noticing the shirt, "My band's covering two of their songs."

"Could that band have Zack in it?" Cloud asked as he realized Vincent was in the band, "I'll be joining you guys today."

"Aww sweet," Vincent said as he pounded Cloud's fist, "I guess you're the guitarist that Zack was talking about."

As Cloud and Vincent were talking about music, Tifa noticed Yuffie smiling at Cloud. Almost staring at him. She noticed Cloud smiling back at her.

RING! RING! RING!

Without thinking, Tifa grabbed Cloud's hand and started walking to their seats. Cloud blushed hard. Soon she let go when she realized what she was doing and went to her seat. When she got there she buried her face I her hands.

'Why did I do that?' She thought to herself. Sometimes jealousy can make you do stupid things. If she wanted him, she had to act fast and act soon.

When the period ended for lunch, Tifa went up to Cloud.

"Hey," She said smiling. She tried hard not to make it awkward. Cloud greeted her briefly. That's when it became awkward. There was a long silence.

"Where are you going after school?" Tifa asked trying to break the ice.

"Band practice remember?" Cloud said then chuckled at her stupidity.

'Wow... Duh!' Tifa said to herself.

She looked behind her and she saw Yuffie walking slightly faster than the two. When she was in front of Cloud, she let her book fall. Then she bent down to get it.

Cloud's face burned like fire. Her ass was sticking out right in front of him. He tried hard not to stare, but he couldn't, it was just... there.

'Oh gosh Yuffie', Tifa thought trying not to get angry. Yuffie got up after she picked up the book and apologized in a sweet manner to Cloud, then she walked ahead while moving her butt back and fourth. Tifa couldn't help, but noticed Cloud was looking.

On the way to the lunch table, Tifa couldn't stop thinking about whether or not Cloud likes Yuffie.

"Sooo," Tifa began, "What do you think of Yuffie?"

Cloud twisted his hand side to side indicating 'she's okay'.

"Eh..." Cloud began, he didn't want to show any signs, "She's got a cute butt I can tell you that!"

Cloud laughed. Tifa fake laughed with him.

"Are you saying that I don't have a cute butt?" Tifa said trying to make it sound like a joke, though she was being dead serious.

"Never seen it," Cloud said even though he enjoys staring at every part of Tifa's body.

"Well do you wanna see it?" Cloud was shocked when he heard that question. He didn't wanna say yes because she might think he's a pervert, but he didn't wanna say no to act like he wasn't interested in her.

Should Tifa kept her mouth shut? She was afraid she made Cloud feel awkward. She had to fix it.

"I'm kidding," Tifa said before Cloud could answer, "Don't answer that question."

They were silent till they got to the table. Tifa was beating herself down the rest of the day.

* * *

><p>After gruesome hours of the rest of the school day, it was finally band practice. Cloud quickly got home and got his guitar then headed over to Zack's house. He met the members. Zack being the guitarist and singer, Vincent being the bass player, and Sephiroth as the drummer.<p>

They ran through the three songs that Cloud knew, then they practiced their own original songs to get Cloud used to it. He picked it up quickly and he even refined the songs a little bit.

"How about for the beginning of the second verse, we give it a crescendo?" Cloud suggested.

The band tried the idea, and they were thrilled with it. He even helped Zack with the lyrics for some of the songs.

"Maybe we could hold that last note a bit longer, then carry on the next line to whoever sings backup," He suggested.

He even demonstrated which amazed the rest of the band.

"You have a pretty good voice for that song," Zack said after he heard Cloud sing the love song, "I think you should sing it instead of me."

"You think so?" Cloud asked nervously. He was never comfortable singing in front of a bunch of people.

"Yeah, that song is meant for the nice clean voices like yours," Zack complemented, "I'm more of that husky screamer voice."

Cloud agreed to sing the song, but he had second thoughts about how people will think of him. During their break, Cloud started writing some lyrics.

"Hey Cloud," Zack said noticing Cloud working, "Rest a bit, you want some soda?"

"No," Cloud said focused on the piece of paper as he was writing down some lyrics.

"Relax bud," Vincent said, "That paper isn't gonna go anywhere."

Though, Cloud ignored him and continued to write. The other members shrugged and let Cloud do what he want.

"Don't worry about him," Sephiroth said to Zack and Vincent quietly, "He's writing our songs."

"Yeah, but I don't want to use him," Vincent said. Zack nodded in agreement.

"I wanna take credit for our songs too."

"I don't know if you guys care or not, but I can hear everything you're saying," Cloud said still looking at the paper.

There was a pause, then Zack was the first to speak at Sephiroth.

"Next time I hear you talking down to any of the members, I'm kicking you out."

Sephiroth put his head down in shame and nodded in agreement. Cloud laughed silently, then asked,

"What's the band name again?"

The three other members looked at each other nervously.

"Umm.." Zack started, "We got nothing yet."

"Really?" Cloud asked stupidly, "'We Got Nothing Yet'?"

There was a pause, then the three other members burst out laughing at Cloud's stupidity. Cloud scratched his head and thought hard. He soon got it and he laughed at himself. It made the others laugh harder.

"Dude!" Vincent said while laughing, "I'm used to people joking about that, but no! You were serious!"

Cloud laughed with them.

"This guy is a keeper man!" Sephiroth said pounding his knee through all the laughter.

"Maybe our band name should be 'Eat Me While I'm Hot'?" Zack said laughing, not being serious.

"No dumbass! It's gotta be something people can chant," Vincent corrected, "Like, people can chant 'Black Veil Brides' or 'Paramore'."

"So you're saying the name has to be three syllables?" Sephiroth said.

"Not necessarily," Cloud said coming in to the conversation, "It can be something like 'Bullet for My Valentine'."

"What the hell?" Sephiroth retorted, "How are we supposed to chant that?"

"It goes 'Bullet! Bullet! Bullet!'," Vincent demonstrated, "Haven't you seen the 'Hearts Burst Into Fire' music video?"

Soon Vincent, Zack, and Sephiroth were arguing, leaving out Cloud.

"Hey..." Cloud said trying to stop the argument, but they kept going on, "How about we call ourselves 'The Anthem'?"

The arguing suddenly stopped and they turned their heads to Cloud.

"That's genius," Vincent said, "and it actually doesn't sound faggy."

"And it's something that people can chant to," Sephiroth added.

"Doesn't that one Japanese metal band already have that name?" Zack pointed out, "They're just called 'Anthem' though, not 'The Anthem'."

The band went silent. Why did all the good names have to be taken?

"I think we should just stick to it though," Sephiroth said breaking the silence, "besides, how known could they be?"

"They have their own Wikipedia, so I think that makes them pretty well known," Zack said biting his lip, "but I agree, that should be our name for now."

"Or we can do what Blink-182 did," Vincent said, "They were called 'Blink' at first, but then they had to change it because it was already taken, so they just added the '182' to the name."

"We can't be called 'Anthem-182' though, that sounds dumb," Sephiroth said.

"Well no shit Sherlock," Vincent retorted, "That's why we choose a different number, dumbass!"

Then the three started arguing again. Cloud sighed, this band was gonna be difficult to handle.

**Sorry about some of the characters being 'out of character'. It's a high school story, I'm sure some of the characters would have acted differently when they were in high school. So yeah... Check out my other fic called "The Advent Children Show". If you've ever wanted to ask/dare any of the characters something, that's the place to do it, so I would love it if you guys would check it out! So review please! Thanks! :) You guys are amazing!**


	6. Chapter VI: Saved By the Bell

**Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII or it's compilations.**

Okay, so I was going to cancel this fic because I felt it was boring for people, even for me. BUT! All because of one person, you know who you are ;). I decided I'll continue this fic just for you! If more people start to like it, then I guess it can make it my main project!

**Chapter VI: Saved By the Bell**

_**Friday, February 9**_

Cloud walked up to the school in time to see Yuffie walk in as well. He noticed her look at him, and she smiled.

"Hey, Cloud," She said walking up to him and giving him a hug, "I didn't expect to see you here."

"We go to the same school," Cloud stated walking up to Zack.

"Well I meant to see you here early," Yuffie replied, "Well I'll see you later then."

Then she walked away towards her own group of friends. Cloud knew she liked him, but why would she not stay with him longer, like Tifa?

"Yuffie digs you man!" Zack said to Cloud while ruffling his hair, "you should ask her out."

Cloud noticed Vincent's sad expression when he heard Zack say that.

"No," Cloud refused, "I'm not that interested in her."

Cloud guessed that Vincent has some feelings for Yuffie, so he didn't want to ruin anything.

"Oh I see," Zack said scratching his chin showing that he noticed something, "you're all up on Tifa, aren't you?"

Cloud's face burned up. How did he find out? Though Cloud knew that whenever he liked someone, everyone around him would know through his actions. But Cloud denied anyway.

"No," Cloud said looking away trying to hide his flushed face from Zack.

Zack laughed then started talking about the songs that the band were gonna do.

"So did you get 'This War Is Ours' down?" Cloud knew that question was going to come up, but he had not learned the song yet. Cloud shook his head.

"It's got sweep picking in it," Cloud said as Zack's expression was saying 'the gig is tomorrow!', "It'll take a while for me to get it down, but I'm sure I can find a way."

Zack looked at him in an angry expression, then he smiled as he realized he shouldn't be mad.

"We're just glad you came in time before our performance."

Cloud nodded, he had been a great help for the band.

"So tell me what's up with you and Tifa," Zack started again laughing.

"C'mon man," Cloud replied trying to make a regular face, but failed completely, "nothing's going on."

Cloud noticed Zack look over his shoulder and he smirked. That can't be good.

"Hey, Tifa!" Zack said calling out to the girl behind Cloud, "I think Cloud wants to ask you something!"

Cloud did not dare turn around to look, but he sensed the girl walking in his direction.

"I'll leave you two love birds alone," Zack said laughing as he walked away.

"Dude, wait!" Cloud said trying not to get himself into the situation, but it was too late. He turned around to see that beautiful black-haired girl smiling at him.

"Hey, Cloud," That voice of her's melted Cloud's heart, "You wanted to ask me something."

Tifa was excited that it may finally be the day when Cloud asks her out on a date. Cloud blushed and looked away trying not to show that his face is red.

"Why is your face red?" The question he did not want to hear, "Did you walk to school in this heat?"

Cloud had to get out of this pickle, so he tried to buy some time.

"Yeah," Cloud said answering Tifa's question, "In fact I ran."

Hopefully that would've made her forget about the question that he supposedly had to ask her. Tifa nodded.

"So what were you going to ask me?" There's the other question he did not want to hear.

Cloud finally looked at her. He noticed her smiling. He also noticed her hair in front of her face. But then with a swift movement of her head, the hair moved away out of her face. Cloud stared at that beauty as if it were in slow motion. He felt that if he blinked, he would miss out on some of the great features this girl had. He knew he liked her, and he knew that he had to do something before it's too late. Before someone else tries to get at her.

"Yeah," Cloud started trying to force the question out, "I was wondering if-"

That's when the bell rang.

'Dammit' Tifa thought, she was hoping he would ask her before the bell rang. But maybe he could ask her before or during first period.

Cloud hesitated. The bell rang, but should he ask the question? Or would it be awkward?

'C'mon Cloud,' Tifa thought, hoping he would have the guts to ask her.

"We should get to the gym," Cloud said ashamed for not asking her, "We don't wanna be late."

Then Cloud walked away towards the gym, leaving Tifa behind. He was afraid to look back or even ask her if she was coming. But he built up the courage to turn around.

"Come on Tifa," Cloud said turning around to see that she was still there looking at him with a sad expression, "Will you walk with me?"

Tifa sighed then she smiled brightly, and nodded. She ran up to him but passed him by, then she grabbed Cloud's hands.

Cloud immediately blushed. Tifa noticed him blushing and she giggled.

"Come on," She said starting to run which made her drag Cloud, "Let's not be late."

Cloud noticed that other students and upperclassmen were staring at them. Who knew that the new kid could be having some relationship with Tifa?

* * *

><p>"Okay children!" Mr. Wallace's voice boomed across the whole field, "I want four laps around this track! And don't think you can try to cheat, Reno, or I'll just give you another zero, and report you to Lazard."<p>

The class laughed at the red haired boy who stood there and smirked.

"That goes for all of you as well," Mr. Wallace said, then he blew the whistle, then the class took off.

Cloud was in the front with the more faster runners which included Zack and Yuffie, and a couple other people. He managed to stay in the front for the first two laps before Kunsel and others passed him. He then noticed at the corner of his eye, that Tifa wasn't running. Instead she was sitting on the bench with Mr. Wallace.

"Not again," Cloud looked over to see Yuffie, who lagged behind so she could run with him.

"What do you mean again?" Could asked, "What happened?"

"Whenever we run this much, Tifa always gets to run less," Yuffie said in an irritated tone, "Mr. Wallace always favorites her and cuts her some slack."

Cloud looked over at Tifa on the other side of the track to see her sitting on the bench with her head down. Cloud wondered why she would be favored.

He looked back over to ask Yuffie why she was favored, but she had ran ahead towards the front.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Saturday, February 10<strong>_

Cloud was at home. He looked at the clock, it read 8:34 AM, the gig isn't until 6:00 PM. He went over to his laptop and went on Facebook. When he opened up the page he saw a status by Zack which read: "Concert tonight at 6 at the Guitar Center! Who's going?"

Cloud saw that the status was "liked" by 25 people, it was going to be a pretty big crowd tonight. He clicked the "like" button.

He then noticed the chat window pop up in front of the screen, it was Tifa, and she asked for Cloud's phone number. He typed it in and sent it. She said thank you, then she went offline.

Cloud thought about what had happened the day before when he tried to ask her out. Was she expecting him to ask her out? He sighed, why had he chickened out? He put those thoughts away and picked up his guitar to practice the songs for tonight.

* * *

><p>"'The Anthem' everybody!" Zack yelled into the microphone with great energy.<p>

Below the stage were a moderately small crowd of people, hopefully it would get bigger when they start playing. Cloud recognized some familiar faces from the school, like Aerith, Tifa, and Kunsel. The rest he didn't know.

"This first song is for you 'Bullet' fans out there," Zack started, then looked back to see Vincent whispering in his ear, Zack nodded after a few seconds and went back to the mic, "Actually, we're starting off with a song for you 'ETF' fans called 'This War Is Ours'!"

Cloud's heart stopped. Why now? The only song that Cloud hadn't perfected is going first. Cloud went over to the guitar rack to get the Ibanez that's in Drop C tuning. Cloud said a quick prayer then got back on stage.

He looked down at the crowd which got slightly larger. He noticed Tifa smiling at him. Cloud blushed, then looked at Zack, he nodded to him, telling him to start the solo. Cloud took a deep breath, then started the sweep picking solo.

He started it slow, but then caught up to the tempo. It immediately got easy and all his nervousness faded. He saw more people come to watch at the corner of his eye, and was almost done with the solo. Then he heard the pounding sound of the drums behind him made by Sephiroth. Then he heard the rhythm guitar part by Zack and the fluid bass line from Vincent. Cloud looked up from his guitar to see a larger crowd moving to the music. He smiled and looked over at his bandmates. Vincent smiled at him and gave him a 'Good job' expression.

Zack started to scream the intro, with Vincent screaming back up. Throughout the song, Cloud was perfect, even with the second solo. More songs go by, then the finale being one of their own original songs started.

At this point Cloud was sweating and his heart would not stop pounding. It had been the greatest night of his life. Soon it was halfway through the song and Cloud was at the front of the stage with Zack, sharing the spotlight. Cloud looked down at the very big crowd that has grown a lot since the start of the first song. Then when the bridge came, he went back to his place and the whole band started headbanging all together. It was the routine they practiced a lot for the last song. The spikes on Zack and Cloud's hair were bouncing up about down, and Sephiroth and Vincent's hair looked really awesome because their hair was long, and long hair plus headbanging equals awesome. At least it was awesome to Metal fans.

Then all of a sudden, Cloud couldn't feel one of the strings. He stopped headbanging and looked down at the neck of his guitar, he had broken a string, and the guitar solo is right up. He quickly went behind Zack and said in his ear,

"Let's trade guitars," Zack turned his head with a confused face, "I broke a string, just give me your guitar."

Zack paused, then nodded. He made a whirling signal with his finger toward Vincent and Sephiroth, they both nodded at him. Then Zack took his guitar strap off his shoulder, Cloud did the same. At the same time, Vincent and Sephiroth were buying time by doing a breakdown.

When they had finally traded guitars, they continued the song where they left off. Then at the solo, Cloud nailed it, and they survived throughout the rest of the song.

The loud cheers from the crowd made Cloud's heart race, and he couldn't help but smile. He looked down to see Tifa clapping her hands then raising them in the air and yelling out.

"Thanks for coming out tonight!" Zack said in the microphone as Vincent was giving him one of those manly hugs.

"Not bad," Cloud looked behind him to see Sephiroth off his drum set, "I would've never thought about trading guitars. Plus you stayed calm and let the show go on."

"Thanks Sephiroth," Cloud said as the two grabbed hands.

"No no no," Sephiroth said chuckling, "Seph or Sephy is fine."

The tall teenager ruffled Cloud's hair and went off stage. Cloud followed suit. There they saw a man with a suit case.

"You guys did a great show out there," He said in a manly deep voice, "Especially you."

The man pointed at Cloud, which made him smile.

"You guys did a great performance," He continued, "You have potential."

"Why are you here?" Zack asked annoyed by that man being in their private area.

"I'm from Shinra Records," He said which excited the whole band, "I'm here to offer you a record deal."


	7. Chapter VII: Stop Waiting, Take Action

I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed this story. I appreciate those who gave me some criticism, it will help me a lot.

**Chapter VII: Stop Waiting, Take Action**

_**Saturday, February 10**_

Cloud stirs in his sleep as his phone starts ringing.

"Mmmh!" Cloud grunts in annoyance, "Shut up!"

Cloud attempts to drown out the sound by covering his ears with his pillow. It helped a little, but he could still hear the annoying ringtone pierce through the soft memory foam. Eventually his cell phone stopped ringing and Cloud released his grip on the pillow.

He sighed in relief and tried to go back to sleep. After a few seconds, his phone started its ringing again. Cloud shot his eyes open to see the ceiling, then he sat up in his bed just listening to the phone give off its annoying chocobo call ringtone. He picked up his phone and answered it.

"Hello?" He said after a few seconds.

"Cloud!" The loud excited sound of his awesome friend and band member, Zack, almost broke Cloud's eardrum.

"Man! I can't believe we got a friggin' record deal bro!" At this point, Cloud held out the phone about a foot from his ear, and he could still hear Zack yapping on the phone.

Although Cloud was psyched the night before about getting an offer for a record deal, he was still very tired at the moment. Cloud looked at his digital clock. It read 4:30 am. He yawned as he was ignoring the sounds Zack was making over the phone.

"Hey Cloud, are you there?" Cloud could barely make out. Then he just closed his phone shut, not caring how rude it was to do that. Then he lied back down on his bed into a deep sleep.

After a few hours, Cloud woke up and checked his phone. He got a text message from Tifa. His heart skipped a beat and he smiled when he saw the name. He pressed "View" and the message said 'Hey', and was sent at 7:32, about five minutes before he woke up. He texted back saying 'Hi'.

He took his phone and went downstairs. He saw a note by the stairs. Without grabbing it, he read it off.

'Went to get some groceries, breakfast is on the table. Love you – Mom'.

Cloud smiled while shaking his head at the note. He loved his mom very much, and he's been there for her ever since his father passed away. It's just been him and his mom living in the house.

Mrs. Strife works as a middle school language arts teacher. So she's off during the weekends. Cloud enjoyed her company a lot, he hates being alone in the house.

He went over to the dining room to smell the great aroma of Mrs. Strife's house famous pancakes. He hungrily scarfed up his breakfast and belched loudly at the end. At the same time, his phone vibrated with a text from Tifa.

'Do you wanna hang out today?' The text said. Then Cloud's heart stopped again. Did she mean it as a date? Or just as friends? Whatever it was, he had to go.

'Sure' He texted back, 'Where are we going?'

About thirty seconds passed till she texted back.

'Let's go to the mall', Cloud sighed. What's worse than going on a date with a girl to a shopping mall? Besides that, Cloud answered with a 'Sure', and immediately got ready.

* * *

><p>"Ooh! How about these Cloud?" Tifa said to another pair of sunglasses while posing in another unique fashion.<p>

"Yeah, sure," Cloud said without even looking. With hours of window shopping, they have been in the same store for at least half an hour.

"Cloud what's wrong? You seem really bored," She said taking off the glasses, then sitting by him, "Come on, let's go get some lunch."

Tifa then took Cloud's hand and dragged him to the food court. After they got their food, they sat down in a less crowded area together and started eating.

"Thanks for paying for me Cloud," Tifa said smiling beautifully at him, "I owe you one."

"Don't mention it," He replied smiling at her back.

After a few bites of food and some small conversations, they continued their day with more shopping. So they headed down to Pac Sun.

"Oh my God! It's almost summer, I need to get a swim suit," Tifa said excitedly while running into the store. Cloud walked in with her. Technically, summer wasn't until June.

He saw Tifa go behind an isle, then he followed When he saw Tifa, she was holding a bikini up to her body.

"Hey Cloud, how would this look?" She said while posing and a sexy way.

Cloud's face turned red immediately as he pictured Tifa in that bikini while on the beach or a pool.

"It would look ugly huh?" Tifa said disappointed while hanging the swim suit back up.

She thought deeply while looking at other swim suits, she smiled and picked one out.

"How about this one?" She said holding it up using a different pose.

Cloud imagined her in this one, which somehow made it seem more sexy, but he still stayed silent. If he complimented her, she might think he's a pervert or something. Tifa frowned at Cloud's silentness.

"Not this one either?" Tifa said while putting it back, "I guess I look horrible in everything, don't I?"

Before Cloud could refuse, she left the store.

"Tifa, please wait," Cloud said going after her. She turned around, it almost seemed like she was crying, but there were no tears. The sound of Cloud's call drew some attention.

"You didn't look horrible," Cloud said.

"Then how did I look, Cloud?" Tifa said while her chin started trembling, "You didn't say anything."

"Look, Tifa," Cloud said trying his best to think of something, "You looked great, but I didn't wanna say anything that might've creeped you out."

Cloud looked in Tifa's eyes to prove to her that he meant what he said. And after a few seconds, Tifa showed a light smile.

"Thanks Cloud." She said.

"Is there a problem here ma'am?" Cloud looked behind Tifa to see a security guard.

"No, everything is fine," She said smiling at the guard, "Come on, Cloud"

She started walking away, then Cloud followed, but was stopped by the security guard.

"Keep your girlfriend safe," The man said, "She's quite a beauty, and you don't know how many guys would try to go after her."

Cloud was about to tell him that Tifa wasn't his girlfriend, but he just patted Cloud on the back and left. What did he man by, keep her safe?

* * *

><p>After another hour, Tifa and Cloud left the mall empty handed.<p>

"Wow, this is the first time I left without buying anything," Tifa said smiling.

"Well then wasn't that a waste of time though?" Cloud pointed out.

"That doesn't matter," She said grabbing his arm, "I had a lot more fun with you there with me."

Cloud's face burned up. Tifa then put her head on Cloud's shoulder. Cloud smiled, he wished it could be like this forever.

Cloud checked the time on his phone which read 7:35 pm, they hung out pretty much all day. The two boarded the train back home. They sat together the whole way, then exited the train station. Cloud then walked her all the way back to her house.

"Thanks for today, Cloud," Tifa said, "It was the best time I've had in a long time."

"I'm glad you had fun," Cloud replied wishing it wouldn't end.

Tifa's eyes looked directly into Cloud's. The beauty of them taking over him.

"I guess I'll see you at school then," Tifa said, although she did not want to leave.

Cloud tried his best to say goodbye, but it was way too hard. He did not want her to leave yet. 'Ask her out!' He kept telling himself.

'Ask her out! Ask her out! Ask her NOW!'

"Umm.. Cloud?" Tifa said confused as the blonde-haired boy was lost in thought.

"Yeah," Cloud said bringing back his senses, "I'll see you at school Monday."

And with that, she went inside her house.

Cloud almost slapped himself across the face.

**Hopefully you guys liked this one. I'm sorry this one was kind of short.**


	8. Chapter VIII: Hiding the Truth

**Chapter VIII: Hiding the Truth  
><strong>

_**Sunday, February 11**_

"What? You're kidding me!" Cloud almost punched a hole in the wall of Zack's garage.

"That dude turned out to be from a show called 'How Would You React?'" Sephiroth said just as angry.

It turns out that the man that offered the band the record deal was a fake. He was a part of a reality TV show that deals with making fake surprises for people.

"Ugh!" Cloud grunted as he threw himself onto the couch with the other members, "That guy's got a lot of nerve showing up like that!"

Vincent crushed his empty soda can.

"Just when I thought we had it too." He said throwing the can across the garage.

"Look on the bright side," Zack said, "At least we got paid to be on TV."

"Yeah I know, but still," Vincent said with his head between his knees.

Sephiroth stood up and started taking apart his drum kit.

"Hey, wait!" Zack said trying to stop him, "What the hell are you doing?"

"What's it look like?" He said pushing Zack away, "I'm taking my crap and leaving this band."

Vincent's head shot up at the sound of that, and he quickly went over to the silver-haired teen.

"But you can't," Vincent said trying to convince him to stay, "We've been a band for years."

Sephiroth gritted his teeth.

"You will all be a living memory," and he continued to pack his equipment.

Cloud stared in disbelief. Although he was not a member from the start, it felt like losing Sephiroth was like a part of himself.

"You can't just stay mad because some guy impersonated -" Zack tried.

"Goodbye!" And he left the garage slowly after.

"Great," Zack said dropping himself on the edge of the couch, "Where the hell are we gonna find a new drummer."

"Sephiroth, man," Vincent said standing where he was, "I've known that guy since we were born..."

"I know Vincent..." Zack said quietly.

Cloud got up and packed his guitar.

"Now don't tell me you're quitting too," Zack said in surprise.

Cloud smiled, "No, of course not. Just gotta get home to finish some homework."

Zack nodded.

"See you guys tomorrow." Cloud said walking out of the garage.

"Later."

* * *

><p><em><strong>Monday, February 12<strong>_

RING! RING! RING!

"I want two laps around the field now children!" Mr. Wallace's voice boomed across the whole school as it seemed.

"F*** this man," Kunsel said catching up to Cloud who was closer to the front, "All we do is run in this class."

Cloud shrugged. He didn't mind running as it's a really good workout for your heart.

After one lap passed, Cloud looked over next to Mr. Wallace to see Tifa sitting on the bench. Why does she get it easy all the time? He saw Mr. Wallace say something to Tifa, and she nodded.

"Man, why does Tifa always get it easy with Barret?" Yuffie said running up to Cloud.

"What do you think is going on?" Cloud asked in so much curiosity.

"It's probably because her big rack gets in the way when she's running," Yuffie laughed. Cloud blushed.

RING! RING! RING!

Cloud got out of the locker room early to get to Tifa. He couldn't help but wonder why she gets it easy during PE.

"What do you mean, Cloud?" Tifa asked when he asked the question.

"Well, you always seem to just sit out when we're running," Cloud tried clarifying.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Tifa said very suspiciously, "I run with the class all the time."

"Are you sure?" Cloud asked very very confused.

"Yeah -"

Tifa dropped to the ground.

"Tifa!" Cloud said crouching down wondering what just happened.

Her eyes were wide open and she was breathing rapidly. Her chest's rise and fall was fast. Then she started to scream.

"Tifa!" Cloud said trying to lift her head up. Her screaming drew a crowd.

Cloud had no idea what was going on, but he needed to get Tifa help now.

"What's going on here?" One of the supervisors asked pushing through the crowd. When she got to Cloud and Tifa, he explained.

"Okay," the supervisor said understandingly, "let me call an ambulance."

Cloud looked at Tifa, and he knew that in her wide eyes and heavy breathing, she was in pain.

**Short one, I know, and very stupid, I know.**

**School is on it's winter break, and when I looked over at some earlier chapters, I realized how very immature I was. So, in future chapters, expect some more maturity and age in the story. **

**Hope you enjoy!**


	9. Chapter IX: I Never Told You

Disclaimer: Someday I hope to work for Square Enix as a part time job, but as of right now, I have nothing to do with them.

**Chapter IX: I Never Told You**

_**Tuesday, February 13**_

"So Cloud, you had a girlfriend, and you forgot to tell me?" Cloud's mom said as she was driving him to the hospital after school.

"She's not my girlfriend," Cloud denied.

Mrs. Strife laughed, then looked behind Cloud's seat to see a bouquet of roses.

"Then why do you have those?" She asked smiling.

Cloud looked away from his mother and looked out the window to see array of houses.

'Please hurry,' Cloud thought anxiously.

"Honey, you're not answering me." Mrs. Strife said pushing Cloud playfully, "but it's okay, let's just hope this Tifa you're talking about is pretty. I don't want you dating some ugly girl."

"Why do you say that?" Cloud asked still looking out the window. He saw a dog run across the street.

"Stupid dog!" Mom yelled slamming on the brakes.

Cloud laughed at his mother's anger.

Mrs. Strife took a deep breath and went back to the subject.

"Because, Cloud," She began, "Look at you."

"What's there to look at?" He asked.

"You're the most handsome boy I've ever seen!"

"Oh Mom," Cloud rolled his eyes, "You're obviously just saying that because you're my mother."

"Have you seen the way girls look at you?"

Cloud looked out the window again, and he saw the "Midgar Hospital" sign at a distance.

"Girls dream of you, and guys want to be like you," Mom said.

Cloud chuckled, "Yeah... right."

"You know, Cloud" Mrs. Strife began as she was pulling into the parking lot, "Trojan is on sale right now, I can buy you some."

"Mom!" Cloud yelled as he got out of the car.

"She's right in here sir," A nurse said directing Cloud into the room.

"Thank you," He said thanking her. He began to walk in, but the nurse grabbed his shoulder.

"Your girlfriend is really beautiful," She said smiling at him.

"Thanks," He said not wanting to tell her that they're not actually dating.

Cloud walked into the room to see Tifa laying on the hospital bed sleeping. He sighed in disappointment, but continued walking towards the bed. Without waking her up, he put the roses on the desk right next to her. He saw that she was wearing hospital clothes with little chocobos on them.

He sat down in a chair and got out his math homework. He thought he should start to work on the homework while Tifa was sleeping.

About half an hour has passed.

Cloud looked at one of the problems and dropped his head into his palm.

"What the hell are vertical angles again?" Cloud whispered.

"When the angles opposite from each other are congruent."

Cloud looked up from his textbook to see Tifa awake looking at him.

"You're awake," Cloud said putting his homework to the side.

"Good morning Cloud," Tifa said through a yawn.

Cloud looked at his cell phone, and the time read 5:08 pm.

"More like good afternoon," He corrected.

"Feels like morning to me," Tifa said sitting up in her bed, "How was school?"

Cloud moved the chair over next to Tifa's bed, and sat down, "Who are you? My mother?"

"I wasn't here today," Tifa said putting her face in front of Cloud's, "remember?"

Cloud chuckled.

"Mr. Hojo gave us another pop quiz again," Cloud said.

"Oh?" Tifa said looking at him, "and how did you do on that?"

"I got 100%," Cloud said casually.

"Hmph," Tifa said crossing her arms, "I thought you were gonna fail this time."

"Not a chance," Cloud said as the door opened.

A boy about Cloud's age walked in. He was muscular and his hair was short but spiked up and he wore a sleeveless shirt.

"Jericho?" Tifa said to the guy, "What are you doing here?"

"I heard you were in the hospital, so I came here as fast as I could," He replied.

"All the way from Nibelheim?"

Jericho nodded and smiled, then looked at Cloud.

"Who's this?" He asked pointing at Cloud.

Cloud had a strong feeling that he was not gonna like this guy.

"Jericho, this is my friend Cloud," Tifa introduced, "Cloud, this is Jericho."

"Sup man?" Cloud said to Jericho.

The teen ignored Cloud, then looked back at Tifa.

"Why are you here?" Tifa asked.

"Just wanted to see if my babe was okay," He said grabbing a chair.

Babe? At the sound of that nickname, Cloud felt his whole heart blow up. Who was this guy? Could he be Tifa's boyfriend?

'Whoever he is, I do not like him.' Cloud thought.

Tifa gave Jericho a dirty look, "Look, I'm not your babe."

Jericho brought the chair over next to Tifa on the opposite side of Cloud.

"Tifa, listen," Jericho leaned over to Tifa, "I made a mistake, and I promise I will treat you right."

"You had your chance," Tifa said looking away, "and you blew it."

Cloud was confused.

"C'mon babe," Jericho said touching her shoulder.

"Don't touch me!" Tifa demanded shaking off his hand, "Please, leave me alone."

Jericho stood up, and gave Cloud a dirty look.

"Tifa, I can help you with your problem," He said leaving, "I have the money to do so."

He walked out and shut the door behind him.

"I don't care," Tifa said as tears started rolling down her face, "I don't care!"

"Tifa," Cloud said, "Tifa, are you okay?"

The girl looked at Cloud. Her eyes shining with tears.

"Yeah," She said wiping them away, "I'm okay."

Cloud nodded, even though he knew that she wasn't okay. What did Jericho mean by 'problem'.

Tifa looked at the roses that Cloud bought her. She held them, and looked at Cloud and smiled.

"These look beautiful," she said.

Cloud smiled.

"Cloud," Tifa began, "Jericho... He's my ex boyfriend. I'm really sorry I didn't tell you about him."

"I see," Cloud said looking at the floor, "Sounds like he didn't treat you well."

Tifa chuckled, "I regret ever dating him," she said smelling the roses.

Cloud nodded.

"His family's rich," Tifa said frowning, "and back in Nibelheim, it's hard to earn money. So I guess that's why I started dating him in the first place."

Cloud stayed silent.

"I realized there's more in a man than just money or looks," Tifa smiled and turned to Cloud.

Cloud smiled.

"Tifa," Cloud finally began, "What did he mean by 'I can help you with your problem'?"

Tifa's smile faded, and she looked up at the ceiling.

"No," She said, "I'm sorry Cloud, but I can't tell you... not now."

"I understand," He said nodding, "you don't have to tell me."

The two stayed silent for what seemed like an hour.

Cloud looked at his phone and it was 7:22 pm.

"Cloud it's late," Tifa said looking at the time as well, "you should be getting home."

"I'm the only one here," Cloud said, "Aren't your parents coming to see you?"

Tifa chuckled.

"My parents died years ago," She said, "Aerith's mom, I guess you can say, adopted me."

"Oh," Cloud said, "I'm sorry."

"It's whatever," she said smiling, "but you should really be getting home now."

"That's not gonna do, Tifa," Cloud refused.

"Stop being so stubborn," Tifa said playfully, "I'm sure your mother doesn't want you out this late."

"She won't mind if I spend the night here," Cloud corrected, "besides, school isn't too far from here."

Tifa chuckled, "Fine, you win."

The two looked at each other for the next few minutes.

"Tifa," Cloud began.

Tifa widened her eyes a bit as a sign that she was listening. Cloud's heart started pounding.

"You probably figured it out already, but," He swallowed, and Tifa smiled, "I really like you."

Cloud sighed.

"And?" Tifa urged Cloud, smiling big.

Cloud blushed, "Well..."

Cloud felt like he was on the verge of dying, "Tifa, will you be my girlfriend?"

Cloud imagined himself falling down a deep hole. He felt that that would hurt less than getting rejected. What if she said no? What will he do then? If she said yes, then what will he do then? Say thank you? No that's stupid.

"Oh, Cloud," Tifa said smiling even bigger with wide eyes, "here's my answer to you."

She leaned in and pressed her lips into Cloud's.

Cloud's eyes widened, but he kissed Tifa back and closed his eyes. The feeling of her lips took over him, and it felt like he just landed in heaven.

When they broke apart, Cloud's face was a wildfire, and he could not stop smiling.

That night, he slept by Tifa's hospital bed, dreaming of the girl who just turned his world upside down.

**Hope you enjoyed that chapter. Stay tuned for more, and please review. The more reviews I get, the faster I will write.**

**Thank you!**


	10. Chapter X: Fight! Fight! Fight!

Disclaimer: You must know by now that I don't have any affiliation with Square Enix, and that means I don't own any Final Fantasy games, movies, OVA's, etc. I also don't own any of the spin-offs such as Kingdom Hearts. So shut up, and enjoy the fanfiction.

**I'm having so much fun with this fic, and also, go to my profile "GuitarWind45" and VOTE for which topic I should do next! I'm glad you guys are enjoying this, so here you go! :D**

**Also, a reminder that this fic has a lot of strong language, so reader's discretion is advised. **

**Chapter X: Fight! Fight! Fight!**

_**Wednesday, February 14**_

"I'll see you after school Tifa!" Cloud said as he walked out the hospital room the next morning, "Get better okay?"

Tifa waved goodbye to her new boyfriend. She smiled as he walked out the room. She could not wait till school was over.

"Oh, Cloud," Tifa said to herself, "I miss you already."

HONK! HONK!

"Hurry up Cloud!" Mrs. Strife yelled out the window to her son who was sort of speed walking to the car, "you're gonna be late for school!"

Cloud jumped in the shotgun seat and threw his seat belt on and sighed.

"Don't have to yell at me like that, Mom," He said slouching in his seat.

"What were you doing in there, Cloud?" She asked driving out of the parking lot, "making out with your girlfriend?"

"Mom, we weren't making out," Cloud looked out the window.

"Oh?" Mrs. Strife smirked, "So she is your girlfriend, huh?"

Cloud blushed.

"So what _were_ you guys doing?" She asked suspiciously, "I heard the nurses in this hospital give you guys complete privacy."

"Mom, you're crazy."

"Then you're the son of a crazy person."

"Apparently," Cloud looked out the window to see the front of the school not too far off. Finally, they were almost there.

Cloud's mom pulled into the side of the school. Cloud took off his seat belt, and opened the door.

"Hey, Honey, wait," Mrs. Strife interrupted.

"Hurry up Mom," Cloud said wanting to get out, "The bell just rang."

"I know," Mom said, "but I got you those Trojans!"

"MOM!" Cloud got out and slammed the door while Mrs. Strife lay back laughing.

"Cloud, Cloud, Cloud," She said shaking her head with a grin, "I just want you to have some fun, that's all."

Then she drove the car back into the street.

* * *

><p>RING! RING! RING!<p>

It was second period in Mr. Rhapsodos' class.

"Okay, please turn to the writing section in your notebook," Genesis said to the class.

Cloud opened his notebook to a new page in his writing section. Everyday, they had to do a warmup in their notebook.

"John..." Mr. Rhapsodos shook his head at one of the students, "We're in second semester, and you don't even have a notebook."

"No," the student said laying back in his seat.

The teacher shook his head, "I'm gonna have to pull you out of this class then."

"Why?" John said in monotone.

"Because, I don't accept students who don't try in my honors class," He said.

The boy shrugged. Then left the class without a care.

"John's changed ever since his girlfriend broke up with him," a girl said.

Genesis shook his head in disappointment, "but that's no excuse to not even try. Not in my class."

Cloud thought about how he would change if Tifa ever decided to break up with him. No, he thought. It's way to early to think about that.

"Okay," Genesis took a deep breath and continued on with the class, "for your warmup, I want you to write about, 'Love'."

Some signs of excitement erupted in the class.

"Whatever you think of it, write about 'Love'."

Cloud smiled and he immediately began writing.

Genesis looked at the blonde-haired boy. He had been doing very well in his class and he showed no sign of weakness. The teacher smiled, he was gonna choose Cloud to read his paper after this.

In a couple minutes, Cloud dropped his pencil and he patiently waited for the rest of the class to finish writing. He looked over at Sephiroth who sat right next to him. The silver-haired boy glanced at Cloud and showed a small smile. Cloud smiled back. He looked in front of him to see Cissnei looking at him. He jumped, how long has she been looking at him?

The red-head mouthed something that Cloud couldn't understand. He mouthed 'What?'

Cissnei sighed in annoyance, then she tried enunciating the words again.

'You're dating Tifa,' Cloud made out.

Cloud raised his eyes in surprise. It's amazing how fast things spread around this school.

'How did you know?' Cloud mouthed clearly.

Cissnei looked behind her to see if Genesis was watching, then turned back around and mouthed, 'Aerith told me.'

Cloud nodded. With Aerith knowing about him and Tifa, he did not know how far this was gonna go. Soon the whole school was going to know about this.

"Cloud," Geneis said which interrupted the silence, "Let's hear what you wrote please."

The whole class, full of amusement looked at Cloud. Cloud swallowed and cleared his throat.

Cloud was used to reading aloud, but when it comes to personal things like love, it was really hard and embarrassing.

"Love," Cloud began, "It's a strong emotion you feel in your heart when you feel a strong affection for someone."

Cloud looked back at that sentence, and shook his head thinking it was a dumb sentence. Cloud saw Cissnei giggle.

"Umm," Cloud looked back at his paper, "When you feel a sort of love for someone, you feel a slight urge to get to know that person better, and try to make him or her happy. Whether that be with buying gifts, or singing them a song, or just telling them how you feel about them."

Genesis smiled.

"Is there someone I feel love for right now?" Cloud continued, about to finish, "Maybe. I do like her a lot, and she makes me happy wherever I go, and I know that I _can _be in love with her."

Cloud looked up and nodded to confirm that he's finished.

The class applauded, and Cloud turned red.

"Good job, Cloud," Genesis said lightly clapping.

"Cloud's dating Tifa," Cissnei blurted out.

The whole class looked at Cloud in surprise. The blonde-haired boy's face was getting a cherry red. And he let out a deep breath.

"Damn, that's nice," Cloud heard someone say.

He heard a whistle from the front of the class.

"Dude!" He heard some guy, "I tried getting at her since last year, and you got her in what? A month?"

The guy laughed, then playfully punched Cloud's shoulder.

"Dang, boy, whatever secret you have, you gotta share it with us!"

"Oh my God! They would look so cute together!"

"I know, right?"

Cloud could almost feel himself sweating, and he could feel his face burning up like the sun.

"Okay, okay," Genesis said trying to calm the class down from all the excitement, "you can all continue this relationship talk after class or on Facebook, but please, not here."

The class laughed.

"That was really good, Cloud" Genesis acknowledged Cloud again.

Cloud nodded. He was beginning to think about Tifa again. About how she was doing in the hospital. Then he started to think of Jericho. He wanted to know more about this guy, and what he has to do with Tifa's "problem".

* * *

><p>RING! RING! RING!<p>

The classes before lunch seemed to fly by very fast, and Cloud was pumped to see Tifa right after school.

"Cloud!" Cloud turned to see Zack at one of the lunch tables.

He went over and sat across from Zack. Next to him was Aerith, and on the other side was Kunsel.

"Dude!" Zack said giving Cloud a handshake, "I'm proud of you man! You finally grew some balls."

Cloud chucked, "Yeah, thanks. Turns out the whole school knows about it, thanks to Aerith and Cissnei."

"Hey," Aerith said to Cloud, "Not the _whole _school."

"Yeah, Yeah, whatever," Cloud rolled his eyes.

"I never thought you were actually gonna get at Tifa man," Kunsel said congratulating Cloud, "Props to you my friend."

Cloud thanked him briefly.

"Hey, Zack," Aerith said getting up from the table, "I'm gonna go get some food, okay?"

"Okay," Zack said when Aerith left for the cafeteria.

"So that's cool man," Zack said bringing up Tifa again, "how did you do it?"

"Do what?" Cloud asked.

"How did you get her to like you, man?" Zack said trying to clarify things, "Like what techniques did you use?"

"Umm," Cloud said thinking, "I think the technique I used was being myself."

There was a slight pause before both Kunsel and Zack busted up laughing. Cloud sat there scratching his head in confusion. Is our generation _that_ fake these days?

"Good one, Cloud," Kunsel said after laughing, "but seriously though."

"Yeah," Zack said on Kunsel's side.

"I told you already," Cloud said in louder volume, "I was being myself."

"Bullshit, man," Zack said chuckling, "None of that crap ever works anymore."

Cloud shrugged, "Well it worked for me."

One of Aerith's friends who Cloud has seen before came up to the table.

"Hey, Cassey," Zack said to the cute blonde girl.

"Zack, some asshole is totally putting his hands on Aerith in the cafeteria," she said with a serious look.

"What?" Zack said standing up, "Who?"

Cassey shrugged, " but Aerith's not liking it very well."

"Fucking shitheads man!" Zack cursed while running to the cafeteria.

Cloud and Kunsel followed him.

"Careful Zack," Cassey called, "He's a pretty big guy."

Zack ignored her and continued towards the cafeteria.

Cloud expected the worst. What if Zack got in a fight with this guy? Cloud couldn't get involved.

Cloud and Kunsel were a couple feet behind Zack when he entered the room. Cloud spotted Aerith who was trying to avoid a buff guy and two other guys about the same size.

The biggest guy slapped Aerith's ass, and Zack gritted his teeth.

"Hey, asshole!" Zack yelled to the trio, "get your hands off of her!"

The three guys turned to Zack and smirked.

"Zack!" Aerith called as the three guys were approaching Zack.

Cloud stared in disbelief. Shit was about to go down it was not going to look pretty.

One of the guys went up to Zack and shoved him.

"Yeah?" He said taunting him, "and what the fuck are you gonna do about it?"

Zack pushed him back, "You guys obviously don't know how to show respect to a girl."

The three guys chuckled.

"Who?" another one of them said, "That bitch over there? The one with the nice ass?"

This soon started to gather a crowd of people.

Zack clenched his fist, trying to control his anger. Cloud was just as angry, but there's no way Zack could fight them.

The biggest one of the three stepped up to Zack and stared him in the eye.

"You mad bro?" He said while the other two were laughing.

Zack then lost his control and threw a punch at the guy's face, and he fell to the ground. Cloud and Kunsel grabbed hold of Zack, who was looking to get another punch.

Soon, all the kids around them started to chant that one dreadful word.

"FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!"

"Don't do it Zack," Kunsel said trying to convince Zack not to fight.

"These guys aren't worth it," Cloud added still holding on to Zack.

The guy that was knocked down stood up and laughed at Zack.

"Skinny boy wants to go," he teased, "big mistake, because I will fuck you up!"

"Shut the fuck up!" Zack yelled breaking through both Cloud and Kunsel's grasp.

Zack ran up to him and tackled him to the ground.

"Zack!" Cloud and Kunsel yelled, but it was too late to stop him now.

Zack started throwing punches to the big guy's face with his right hand while trying to keep him down with the rest of his strength.

Soon, the guy broke free and got some distance from Zack.

"Zack! Don't charge him!" Cloud commanded.

Cloud knew that if he ran up like that again, the big guy will grab hold of him, and do who knows what to Zack.

But Zack ignored Cloud and ran up to him.

Cloud's prediction turned out to be correct, as the guy ran back with his body low and flipped Zack behind him into the ground. Before Zack could get up, the towering man got on top of him and started smashing Zack's face with punches that don't look like they're held back one bit.

"Yeah, get em Jeff!" One of the smaller guys from the trio said.

"Shut your damn mouth!" Kunsel retorted and lunged himself at him.

"Kunsel, you idiot!" Cloud said.

"You and your fucking friends!" The last one said to Cloud, and started to run up to him.

Cloud did not believe it, but he was getting involved in a fight.

"Dammit!" Cloud screamed as the boy tackled him to the ground.

Cloud easily got him off of him, but it was too late. The supervisor and two cops have _finally _arrived, and they caught Cloud at the worst possible time.

One of the officers grabbed hold of Cloud.

"So you like to settle things with violence huh?" The cop said.

"It's not what you think," Cloud tried convincing him, "Please, you have to understand you got me at the wrong time."

"Take it up with Principal Lazard, Kid," He said tightening his grip on Cloud.

What's going to happen to him? Will he have to pay a fine? Get suspended? Cloud was not enjoying this one bit. He knew that if his mother found out, he would be dead.

**Whew! I just had to write this one, because this scenario was taking over me! Hope you enjoyed it!** :)


	11. Chapter XI: Invisible

**Chapter XI: Invisible**

Cloud with his two friends, Zack and Kunsel, sat outside the principal's office.

Zack was holding an ice pack on his left cheek. It was swollen pretty bad, and there was dried blood around his nostrils and the corner of his lip. The three guys that started the fight were on their way to Midgar Police Department because of multiple offenses. It seems like it's not the first time they started a fight like this.

"Dude, if I get suspended, my dad's gonna kill me," Kunsel said nervously with his hands continuously rubbing his thighs, "I've never gotten suspended before."

"You guys aren't getting suspended," Zack said, "You guys were just defending yourselves, if anyone's getting in trouble, it's me."

"Cloud was the only one defending himself," Kunsel corrected, "I was the one that tackled the other guy, then his friend decided to get at Cloud."

"Was this your first fight, Zack?" Cloud asked.

Zack nodded, and let out a sigh of disappointment, "I couldn't control it, but nobody does that to Aerith!"

He lightly pounded his fist into his thigh, "and she is not a bitch."

"It's okay, Zack," Kunsel said softly, "I'm sure the principal will understand. What are your grades?"

"Like..." Zack thought for a while, "B average, but I don't see what good grades have to do with it."

Kunsel was about to say something then the door opened.

"Come in, boys," Principal Lazard said from his office.

The trio stood up and walked inside.

"Please, have a seat," He politely gestured at the three chairs in front of his desk. They sat.

"Zack, Kunsel, Cloud," Lazard began, "I know you guys are good students, so will you please tell me what happened out there? I would like to hear your side of the story."

They looked at each other to see who wanted to start, then Zack was the first to speak.

"My friend, Aerith, went to go get some-"

"Friend?" Lazard interrupted.

"Umm, girlfriend sir," Zack corrected himself then Lazard chuckled and nodded, Zack continued, "well she went to go get lunch from the cafeteria, then my friend Cassey said that someone was touching her and stuff, so I went there to see what was going on."

"And Kunsel and Cloud followed you?"

"Yes sir," Zack continued, "Then when I got there, I saw them and I told them to stop touching her, and they came up to me and intimidated me, and they called Aerith a bitch. Which I took offense at."

The principal nodded and looked at Kunsel and Cloud, "True so far?" He asked for confirmation. Cloud and Kunsel nodded.

"So," Zack coughed, "I tried my best to control my anger, but they kept making fun of me so I lost it and I was that one who threw the first punch."

"I admire your honesty," Lazard said, then he turned to Kunsel and Cloud, "Now, tell me how you guys got involved."

Kunsel sighed, and spoke first, "While Zack was fighting one of the guys, another one of them was cheering his friend on, and I got really angry, so I threw myself at him."

"Hm," The principal's eyes widened a bit, "and Cloud?"

"Umm," Cloud began trying to talk, "Well, I was-"

"Sir, Cloud didn't do anything," Zack spoke up.

"Mr. Fair, please," Lazard said and he looked at Cloud and gestured him to continue.

"After Kunsel went at one of the guys, the last one got angry at me, and he threw me down. I got him off of me but the supervisors came at the wrong time," Cloud finished.

"I see," Lazard said, "I trust what you're telling me is the truth."

"Really?" A surprised Zack said.

"Though, that does not mean, you're off the hook," The principal added with a 'sorry' look on his face.

Zack dropped his head and was staring at the floor. Lazard looked at Cloud.

"Mr. Strife, you are excused to your fifth period," He said.

Cloud thanked the principal and walked out of the room to go to biology.

"As for you two," Lazard continued, "Zack, you will have three days of after-school detention, and Kunsel, you will have two.

"That's it?" Zack asked surprised at the principal being so nice. Lazard nodded. "But... but why?"

The principal laughed a bit, "I was in a similar situation as you guys when I was your age."

"Mr. Deusericus," Kunsel said, "I don't know what to say."

He laughed again, "Just don't start anything like that again, or I _will_ give you the full punishment... understand?"

They both nodded in sync.

"Well then," Lazard got up and grabbed two, already filled out, detention slips.

"Sir," Zack said, "you already filled them out before we told you our story?"

Lazard smiled, "Exactly."

* * *

><p>Cloud opened the door to his class.<p>

"Can someone tell me the formula for Glucose?" Mr. Hewley said while he walked in, "Do you have a pass, Cloud?"

"No," Cloud said still by the door, "Mr. Deusericus just told me to come here."

"Can you tell me the formula for Glucose?" He asked Cloud.

"C6 H12 O6," Cloud said confidently.

"Have a seat then," Mr. Hewley said while the class laughed.

While Cloud was going to his seat he saw Yuffie mouth something. After he sat down he looked at her and mouthed "What?"

She told Cloud that she'll tell him after class.

* * *

><p>"So what was it that you wanted to tell me?" Cloud said after fifth period.<p>

Yuffie slapped Cloud across the face which made his whole head snap to one direction.

"Oww!" Cloud said surprised, "What was that for?"

"What does Tifa have that I don't?" Yuffie demanded, "was it the boobs? Hmm? !"

"What are you talking about, Yuffie?" Cloud asked.

"Ugh!" Yuffie grunted while holding her hand up for another slap to Cloud's face, "Is that all guys want these days? ! Boobs?"

"Hey, wait, don't slap me please!" Cloud pleaded putting his hands up in defense, " and what are you talking about? Boobs? That's not the only thing I want."

"Liar!" Yuffie slapped Cloud again, "Aerith told me you asked her out last night, is that true?"

"Yeah, I did," Cloud had his hand on his cheek, "Oww! And believe me, I'm not lying."

"I hope it hurt, Strife," She said disgustingly while walking away briskly, "I hope it hurt."

"Yeah, it really did, thanks!" He said in louder volume so she could hear.

Cloud sighed then he went over to his sixth period. He still wanted to be Yuffie's friend, but he didn't see why it was necessary to slap him like that. Cloud started to feel his cheek burn up and swell a little. It seemed like she wasn't holding anything back.

"Hey, Cloud," Cloud turned around to see Vincent.

"Hey, what's up man?"

"Why is your face red?" He asked pointing at Cloud's cheek.

"It's a funny story-" Cloud began but was interrupted.

"I feel like I'm invisible, Cloud," Vincent said ignoring Cloud's answer to his question.

"What do you mean?"

Vincent looked down, "around her."

"Who?"

"Yuffie, man," Vincent clarified, "ever since you came to this school, you were all she would talk about."

"Vincent," Cloud said, "I don't understand. How could Yuffie like me? And what does this have to do with you?"

"I really like her man," Vincent said with a slight yell, "but I guess I was never her type. I tried to get her to like me for so many years."

Cloud looked at Vincent understandingly, "I'm sorry, Vincent."

Vincent shook his head, "Don't be sorry, Cloud. It's all right."

The bell rang again indicating two minutes left for class to start. Vincent started walking away.

"Hey, wait," Cloud said to Vincent. He turned around, "Maybe... If you want, I can help you with her."

Vincent showed a smile on his face, "I'll think about it," he called then started walking away.

Cloud smiled and continued on to his sixth period.

* * *

><p>Cloud walked through the door in Tifa's hospital room. He saw his beautiful girlfriend wide awake watching Spongebob SquarePants on the television. She looked up at Cloud when she saw him walk in.<p>

"Cloud!" Tifa said shutting off the TV with the remote, "I missed you!"

"I missed you too," Cloud said walking up to Tifa and giving her a hug.

"Hey," Tifa said looking at Cloud's face, "Why is your cheek red?"

"Oh, well it's a funny story actually-"

"How was school?" Tifa ironically interrupted, "anything interesting happen today?"

"Yeah, very interesting actually," Cloud grabbed a chair and put it next to Tifa's bed, "Zack got in a fight."

"Oh you're kidding," Tifa said surprised, "with who?"

Cloud shrugged, "but I kind of got involved, but I didn't get punished at all."

"Good," Tifa said firmly, "I don't want my boyfriend getting suspended from school."

Cloud laughed. Cloud felt good when she called him her boyfriend. It was the first time in a long time that it felt like someone cared that much about him.

Tifa looked at the ceiling, and her eyes turned dark.

"Cloud..." She said in a small voice.

"Yes, Tifa?" He said smiling at her.

She didn't answer. Then her body began to shake.

"Cloud!" She yelled, "This one is hurting even more!"

"Tifa?" Cloud said getting up from his seat, "Please answer me."

Then she started to scream again, which reminded Cloud of what happened a couple days ago.

Cloud ran outside the room, "We need a doctor! Nurse! Anyone!"

**Shorter one. Please review. Oh, and Happy New Year!**

**One of my New Years resolutions is to write more, so I'll be doing my best to update periodically. Thanks for reading!**


	12. Chapter XII: I Deserve to Know

**Chapter XII: I Deserve to Know**

A couple doctors and nurses hurried into Tifa's room, and Cloud watched closely as they did their complicated medical things that Cloud had no knowledge of.

"Is Tifa going to be okay?" Cloud asked one of the nurses who was entering the room.

"She's going to be just fine, sweetie," she said briefly rushing in.

Cloud attempted to ask another question but the nurse ignored him. He saw Tifa who stopped shaking but was still breathing heavily, it seemed she was looking straight at Cloud. She muttered her boyfriend's name.

One male doctor looked up from Tifa to Cloud; he walked over to him.

"I'm sorry, son," He said taking Cloud's arm and bringing him toward the door, "but you're going to have to leave."

"Cloud..." Tifa said a little louder, "Don't go."

"Wait," Cloud said resisting, but the man had a tight grip, "Sir, please."

"Please wait out here," The doctor said letting him go in the hallway. Cloud tried protesting, but the doctor went back inside the room. Cloud tried opening the door, but it was locked. He sighed and sat down in a chair next to the room.

"Tifa," He said quietly.

Tears started falling on his jeans, then a few sobs broke in as well. Cloud dropped his head and grabbed his hair with both his hands, it hurt slightly but he ignored it.

These doctors know what's wrong with her, but how come they aren't telling Cloud about it? How bad is her condition? What are they hiding? Cloud needed answers more than ever. Whatever it is, Cloud needs to know. He needs to help Tifa.

Cloud, unable to control his anger, pounded his fist on the chair. He sobbed some more, and wiped his face with his arm, but his face soon got wet again from the coming tears.

"Tifa," He said with a little more edge.

After sitting outside Tifa's hospital room for what seemed like five hours, Cloud was asked to go home. He didn't try to protest because he knew it wasn't going to go anywhere.

"_Hey, Cloud," Tifa said to her boyfriend as she gave him a hug, "I missed you so much."_

"_I missed you too," Cloud hugged back, "So, you're cured now, right?"_

"_Unfortunately not," The raven-haired girl looked down, "but being with you is what's keeping me alive."_

"_What do you mean, Tifa?"_

_She smiled at Cloud, "Don't worry about me."_

"_That's impossible," He looked back at her, "How can I not worry about you?"_

"_Oh..." Tifa looked away, "I guess that means we should break up."_

"_What?" Cloud said startled by those words, "No, please."_

"_Cloud," Tifa started walking away, "I want to break up."_

"_No," Cloud said going after her, "Please don't!"_

"_Break up, Cloud, break up."_

_Cloud ran for her, but she disappeared._

"_Break up..."_

"_Tifa, No!" He yelled at the top of his lungs, but it was silent._

"_Wake up..."_

"Wake up, Cloud."

"Tifa..." Cloud stirred, "No, don't leave me."

THWACK!

Cloud jumped at the sound. He heard laughter, and he realized he was in second period.

Cloud rubbed his eyes and saw Mr. Rhapsodos laughing softly with the rest of the students; He had a yard stick in his hand, and Cloud guessed that's where the loud sound came from.

"Rise and shine," Genesis said after the laughing died down, "Didn't get enough sleep last night, did you?"

Cloud shook his head while yawning.

"Up all night studying?" The teacher asked not being serious.

"Yeah," Cloud replied in a sarcastic tone, "studying's fun." Cloud fully woke up now.

Genesis, along with the class, laughed. Mr. Rhapsodos had to be the best teacher in the world.

After class, Cloud caught up with Vincent who was standing alone in the hallway.

"Aye, Cloud," Vincent said as he saw his chocobo-looking friend approach him.

"What's up loner?" Cloud chuckled as he shook his friends hand.

"Look who's talking," Vincent remarked playfully.

"Yeah, I wouldn't be a loner if my girlfriend was here."

"Oh yeah. Tifa," Vincent said, "How is she doing anyway?"

Cloud shrugged, "I'm not too sure, doctors won't tell me anything."

"Your girl won't tell you?"

Cloud shook his head, "It sucks because she's the only one that knows."

"What about Barret?" Vincent asked as the two-minute bell rang.

Cloud nodded as he remembered how he would let Tifa sit out most of the running days. He had to know at least something about her condition.

"Speaking of girls," Vincent sighed, "Yuffie looks really pretty today."

Cloud smiled and chuckled, "You should tell her that."

Vincent chuckled and waved goodbye as he started walking towards his class.

And if Cloud is going to get answers for Tifa's condition, he should start with Mr. Wallace.

Vincent walked into his third period Algebra II class.

He took his seat next to Yuffie who said hi to him. Vincent said hi back.

He looked at the clothes she was wearing from head to toe. Man, did those high Converse look so good on her. Vincent swallowed.

"_Yuffie looks really pretty today."_

"_You should tell her that."_

"Yuffie," Vincent forced out as he felt his back start to sweat a little.

Yuffie looked at Vincent and smiled awaiting what he was about to say.

"Well," He said as he felt his face get hotter, "I think you look pretty pretty today."

The bell rang for class to start.

Yuffie giggled, "Oh Vincent, what the hell have you been smoking lately?"

Vincent fake laughed along with her and sighed. There goes that.

It was after school, and Cloud went over to the gym. He walked in the empty place, and tried looking. All he saw was the janitor who was mopping up the floors.

"Excuse me," Cloud said walking up to him, "Do you know where Mr. Wallace is?"

"I saw him walk into the weight room," The janitor replied pointing to a pair of double doors.

Cloud thanked him and went inside the weight room to see the football team using the equipment. They all stopped what they were doing and looked at Cloud.

"Where's Mr. Wallace?" Cloud asked nervously. Almost every guy in here had arms at least twice as big as Cloud's.

"Who is this scrawny little shit?" Cloud heard someone say.

"What the hell is that talking stick saying?"

"Aye fools, don't touch him or he might snap in half."

The whole room erupted in laughter. Cloud tried his best to control his anger. Especially since it was 50 ripped guys against him.

"Hey, ain't that Lockheart's boyfriend?"

"Amanda Lockheart?"

"That's Amanda Burkhart, dip-shit. We're talking about that Tifa hoe."

Cloud could feel himself about to explode because of these guys' comments.

"Hey, shut the hell up!" Cloud turned to see a tall silver-haired guy walk through the crowd of football players. It was Sephiroth, "Barret's in his office."

Cloud nodded and walked toward a small room with a closed door.

"God damn, Sephy," Cloud heard, "fucking dumbass."

Cloud opened the door, went inside the room, and closed it behind him.

"I said no, Tre!" Mr. Wallace said while sitting at a computer, "Get out!"

"Umm..." Cloud said.

Barret looked up at Cloud, "Oh sorry, I thought you were someone else. Who are you again?"

"Cloud Strife."

Barret made an 'I don't know you' look.

"I'm in your first period."

Barret made the same look again.

"Nibelheim boy," Cloud tried to refresh his gym teacher's memory.

"Oh, right!" Barret made a deep laugh, "What do you need Strife?"

"What do you know about Tifa Lockheart's condition?"

Barret made a surprised look on his face.

"I want to know why you let her sit out on running days."

"What condition?" Barret said, trying to hide his knowledge, "Why? Is she sick?"

"I know you know something, Sir," Cloud said trying not to sound rude, "All P.E. Teachers get students' medical records right?"

The teacher made a fake shrug, "I know nothing, child." He turned back to his computer.

"Please, Mr. Wallace," Cloud said louder, "I really care about her. What if someone you cared about was sick as Tifa? I know something's wrong, and I want to know."

The teacher's eyes widened in surprise and he turned away from his computer and looked up at his student.

"I'm sorry, Cloud."

"I need answers, Sir."

Barret gritted his teeth.

"I have no idea what's wrong with her. Please, tell me." Cloud was just about to lose hope.

Barret sighed. Cloud could feel his heard pounding fast.

"Tifa... has this deadly disease," He started, "Possibly fatal..."

"What disease?" Cloud started shaking.

"There are many names for it," Barret sighed, "but the one on Tifa's medical goes by the name, Geostigma."

"Geostigma?" Cloud said confused, "I've never heard of it before."

"That's because it's extremely rare, nobody knows where it comes from or how you get it. Some theories say it comes from some chemicals in the earth's surface, but no one is too sure."

Cloud could feel himself getting dizzy. Did it mean that Tifa had a chance of dying?

"Geostigma causes extreme exhaustion," Barret continued, "and that's all I needed to know about her when she came into my class. She's a hard worker, I'm just worried about her pushing herself too hard, so that's why I let her sit out on running days."

Cloud nodded, "anymore information?"

Mr. Wallace shook his head, "I'm sorry."

Cloud nodded and opened the door to go out.

"Oh, and Cloud," Barret stopped him, "I have a daughter named, Marlene."

Cloud looked at Barret's desk to see a photo of him and a little girl smiling happily.

"I don't usually tell people about her," Barret continued, "but she means the world to me, and if something were to happen to her, I would never forgive myself."

Cloud nodded understandingly.

"Cloud," Barret said turning back to his computer, "Take care of Tifa."

Cloud nodded again and exited the office and started walking towards the weight room exit.

"Hey, fag, wanna join the football team?" Cloud heard, "You can be the water boy."

The room was filled with deep laughter.

"Aye fool," Cloud felt a large hand on his shoulder, "You should hit me up when you and Lockheart fuck, so I can join."

Cloud shook off the football player's hand and hurried out of the room, ignoring anymore remarks they would make. These guys have no respect for anybody.

Geostigma... Cloud thought. Whatever that is, it's hurting Tifa.

**So, school's been pretty good. Getting good grades so I can write this fic more.**

**See you guys soon!**

**Please review!**


	13. Chapter XIII: I Tried

**Chapter XIII: I Tried  
><strong>

"Cloud, Honey, what's wrong?" Mrs. Strife said to her son who did not look like he was in the mood.

Cloud kept looking out the window; it was raining, "Nothing Mom, I just know what's wrong with Tifa now."

"She told you?" Cloud could see the hospital not too far away.

He shook his head, "No, I had to ask Mr. Wallace."

"I'm sorry, Cloud," She said pulling into the driveway of the hospital entrance, "Well, just call me if you want to get picked up."

Cloud said goodbye, and ran inside to avoid getting wet from the rain. His shoes squeaked on the floors as he walked through the automatic sliding doors. He pressed on to Tifa's room.

There, he saw the same doctor that made him leave standing outside the room. Cloud attempted to go in, but was stopped.

"Hey, c'mon," Cloud protested no wanting to deal with the doctor, "You can't just keep kicking me out."

The door was slightly open, and Cloud could see Tifa laying on the bed looking at him.

"Security," The doctor said loudly.

"No, stop!" Tifa said from inside the room, "Let him in, please."

Cloud saw some security guards come and hold on to him, but they loosened up when Tifa protested.

"But Miss Lockheart," The doctor said, "you-"

"I don't care!" She yelled.

The doctor sighed and gestured Cloud to go in; The security guards let go. Inside, the room was well lit, and there were no doctors or nurses.

Cloud walked in and saw that Tifa had a bandage wrapped around her right forearm. He sat on the bed with his side to Tifa, and turned his body so he could look at her.

"Hey, Tifa," Cloud said as his girlfriend held his hand, "How are you feeling?"

"I'm feeling better," She smiled, "A lot better since you're here now."

Cloud's heart skipped a beat. Yup, that feeling was still there.

"Umm, Tifa," Cloud began remembering about what Mr. Wallace told him, "I know what's going on now."

Tifa's smile went away, and she looked away from Cloud.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself. I just had to know," Cloud tried his best to comfort her, "I'm really really sorry."

There was a silence, the only sound being the rough pounding of the rain outside.

"No," Tifa said looking back at him, "I'm sorry for not telling you. You deserved to know."

Cloud nodded, "Geostigma..."

The girl sighed, "Cloud, I promise I'll be fine."

Tifa put her right hand on Cloud's shoulder and pulled him in. When his face was near, Tifa landed a kiss on Cloud's lips, and it lasted for what seemed like the longest time ever.

The feeling of Tifa being close to him made his heart pound. The pounding had to be louder than the rain outside. With their lips still in deep contact, Tifa pulled Cloud closer to her. His chest brushing up against her breasts, and her fingers digging deep into his spiky hair. Nothing can pull them apart now.

The sound of the doorknob didn't stop them, instead they kept kissing.

"Hey, Tifa!" An excited squeal came from Aerith.

Tifa then pushed Cloud off of her as soon as she heard that voice. Cloud started wishing Aerith never came.

"Wow, guys," Aerith giggled, "Next time lock the door, okay?"

Or maybe you could knock first, Cloud thought. With Aerith was Zack. Zack laughed along with Aerith.

Tifa's face was red as ever, "Hi, guys."

"We brought you cookies!" Aerith said bringing in a really big tray.

Tifa's jaw dropped, "Are you _trying _to make me fat?"

The four laughed, "Yeah, we're testing Cloud to see if he doesn't mind having a fat girlfriend," Zack teased.

"Ugh, you're horrible, Zack!" Tifa said but then laughed.

Cloud looked at his beautiful Tifa. Whatever happens to her, he will always look at her the same way.

* * *

><p>Vincent looked at his phone. The screen illuminated his slightly dark bedroom, showing his very artistic wallpaper.<p>

He picked up the phone and started typing a message.

'Wanna hang out?'

He sent the message to Yuffie, and after a couple seconds, she replied.

'Its pouring out :P' She referred to the weather.

Vincent chuckled.

'So is that a yes?'

After a couple seconds:

'Sure'

* * *

><p>Cloud sat down in a chair next to Zack. His raven-haired friend and his girlfriend threw a small, inside-the-hospital party. For about an hour, they all watched a chocobo race on the television, and Cloud and Zack would bet on which chocobos would win, they would bet on Aerith's cookies. Zack won most of them, and Cloud began to wonder if he was psychic. Tifa and Aerith would talk about clothes and other girl stuff. Tifa, despite being trapped inside a hospital 247 seemed like she was having fun. Cloud was glad that she finally had the time to enjoy life.

Cloud checked his phone for the time... 6:07 pm. He looked up and saw Tifa sleeping, with her brunette friend sleeping in a chair with her head on the side of the bed. They got pretty knocked out fast.

Zack chuckled, "Aerith looks so beautiful when she sleeps."

With the TV off, the only sound in the room was the quiet snoring from the girls.

"Y'know Cloud," Zack started after a while, "When it comes to girlfriends, it's really hard to keep them away from other guys... you know what I mean?"

"Like that ass from school?"

Zack chuckled, "Yeah, that guy. You're lucky no other guys are trying to harass Tifa."

"Well..." Cloud then remembered from a while ago.

"Well..." Zack mimicked, urging Cloud to continue.

"There was a guy here the same day I asked Tifa to be my girlfriend. He was an ex."

"Names?"

"Jericho, I guess he's some rich guy from Nibelheim. He talked about helping Tifa with her problem with all this money that he's got."

Zack nodded, then shook his head in disappointment, "It's always those damned rich boys. If there's anything that girls like more, it's personality, sense of humor, and money."

Cloud shook his head also in disappointment. He sighed.

Zack noticed this and he quickly put his hand on Cloud's shoulder for comfort.

"But I'm sure Tifa sees you as something special, Cloud," he said, "Just treat her as you would see her as someone special."

Cloud half smiled and looked at Tifa who was sleeping peacefully... Rich or not, He is going to help her with her Geostigma.

"Oh and about the chocobo races..." Zack started, "The one we watched was a re-run."

Cloud was surprised and punched his friend in the arm.

"Oww!" Zack flinched quietly so that he wouldn't wake the girls.

"Asshole," Cloud said quietly while smiling, "You owe me four cookies."

* * *

><p>With the crowded peoples inside Seventh Heaven, Vincent waited outside under the building so the rain won't get to him. He doesn't like rain, especially rain in Midgar since it's acid rain thanks to the Mako Reactors everywhere. But pretty much all the citizens of this town have been immune to it. Though he hates rain, Vincent constantly reminds himself that it makes the plants grow... The very few plants in Midgar.<p>

The pouring rain was muffled by the loud teenagers inside the club. Then he heard a car roll up to the front. Out came Yuffie from the shotgun seat.

"_Yuffie looks really pretty today."_

"_You should tell her that."_

Vincent remembered. Would that break some ice with the girl he dearly cares for? Or would he end up looking like a fool?

"Hey, Vincent." Yuffie said giving him a hug.

"You... look." Vincent stopped mid-sentence. He realized what he did and was in shock."

Yuffie giggled, "I look what?"

"You look good tonight." Vincent forced out. He hoped he didn't sound too bad.

Yuffie giggled even more, "Geez, what's wrong with you today?"

Yuffie walked past him and into the club. There, Vincent heard a lot of guys in interest towards Yuffie.

"Yeah," Vincent said quietly to himself, "What _is _wrong with me?"

Vincent turned around and followed Yuffie. She went to an open table and almost immediately, guys filled in the seats.

"Hey, girl, looking pretty," one of the guys said which instantly got Vincent jealous.

Yuffie didn't pay attention to any of the guys, but instead, she asked for Vincent to sit down with her. He did.

"Hey, boy," A big guy said to Vincent, "You gonna introduce us to your lady friend?"

Vincent ignored him and looked away. He knew he shouldn't have chosen this place.

"Hey," He heard one say, but again, he ignored.

"Hey," This time he sensed him walking towards him, "fool!"

The guy tapped Vincent's head with his hand, but it was so big that it sort of hurt. Out of anger, Vincent snapped.

"Don't touch me!" Vincent grabbed the guys wrist and and pushed him away... Big mistake.

"You got some anger problems, fool," The guys stared him down with green eyes. Almost like he was part cat, "Are you really gonna start something?"

"No!" Vincent could hear Yuffie say through the loud sounds of the people. Vincent looked around him and saw that there was a crowd and they were chanting that daring word: Fight!

"No! No fighting here!" A man that looked like he was in his thirties came through. The crowd was silenced.

"This faggot started it," Vincent's opponent said.

Vincent did his best not to snap back at him, and it worked... barely.

"Sir, I'm going to have to ask you and, whoever you are with, to leave." The man, who Vincent guessed was the owner, said to him.

"Let's go Yuffie," Vincent said walking fast toward the exit. There, it was cold and pouring with hard drops of rain.

"Vincent, what happened in there? That's not like you." Yuffie said which the sound of her voice barely pierced the loud rain.

"I don't know." Vincent said, though he knew, but he couldn't tell her about his jealously and his feelings for him. It would ruin their friendship.

"You were acting all weird today, and then you just snapped. What's going on?" Vincent could see Yuffie was shaking from the cold.

He stayed silent.

"Talk to me, Vincent! I'm your friend, I can help you with these things."

"Yuffie!" Vincent said loudly which made the girl wince. It's not often Vincent would just yell like that. He sighed.

"What?" Yuffie said impatiently, but also curiously.

"I like you," The words just launched out of his mouth, and now that they're out, there's no turning back.

"...What?"

"I like you, Yuffie." Vincent started, "More than a friend, and it sucks because all these guys are after you... Like when I saw you flirting with Cloud, it hurt me."

Yuffie's eyes seemed to be a lot bigger.

"The reason I snapped inside the club was because I got jealous. And about me telling you that you looked good, I meant it! Why did I do it so awkwardly? I don't know. I tried to see if you could be interested in me, but now I know that you don't see us as nothing more than friends."

Vincent panted slightly from all the words. It felt like he took one large breath and sang a really long and high note, like an opera singer would.

"Vincent..." Yuffie was at a loss for words.

"I'm sorry about tonight." Vincent said.

"No, Vincent." Yuffie began, "I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?"

"I'm sorry I could never see us as more than friends. You're just not my type of guy."

The words that just came out of her mouth made Vincent's heart break.

"I'm so sorry, Vincent. I tried to have feelings for you, I really did."

Vincent nodded, then he could see Yuffie's eyes well up, and she started tearing up like how the rain would.

"I see." Vincent said. Then he walked away in no specific direction. He didn't know if Yuffie had a ride home or not, but his heart hurt too much to care. Then he began crying.

He barely heard Yuffie call his name through the rain. He then heard the sound of thunder.

"Yuffie..." He whispered back.

**Sucky chapter :P But I just recently took my High School Exit exam, and my Algebra II teacher has been giving me crap and I have a D in that class. Sooo... this was the best I could do. So sorry guys, and also sorry for the late update.**

**Thanks for reading! :D**


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